Five Is A Crowd
by Wormtail96
Summary: The Beldam is back for revenge and she is not alone. The witch has created four different Other Coralines of her own. When they kidnap Wybie, Coraline will not only have to rescue him but duke it out with the Beldam AND her wicked 'daughters' as well.
1. Prologue

**(A/N) Hello, I am Wormtail96 and this is the prologue to my new **_**Coraline **_**story, **_**Five is a crowd. **_**I shall continue this story alongside my **_**Of Dogs and Whos **_**story, but once the latter is finished, I will put all focus on this one. Please read on.**

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**Five is a crowd**

**Prologue  
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The full night moon shone over the large house that resembled the 'Pink Palace' apartments in the Other World. The large house that had been divided up into separate living accommodations now looked more of a rundown clash between a cheap scary funhouse and an insane asylum.

_Rustle. Rustle._

A small silhouetted form slinked in and out through the front lawn of carnivorous and snapping plants.

Cat was making one of his occasional trips to the Other World, checking on his old 'friend' the Beldam to see if she was up to something.

Cat leaped up elegantly onto the edge of the window sill. He tilted his small narrow head slightly so he could see through the ajar window and into the house.

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Inside the house, the black feline could see a group of people walking about inside the kitchen. _'What's this? She has some…visitors?' _Cat thought to himself, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head further to the side so he could get a better look.

Cat could now make out that there were about five people in the kitchen. One was a woman with black hair; obviously the Beldam. _"There you are, you--wait a moment…" _There was something about the Beldam; something that did not seem right. She looked absolutely…beautiful, curvy and just like Mel Jones again. Her skin was no longer pale; her lips were ruby red and her black her shining a well groomed. _'This is odd. What's with the makeover?" _

Sitting down on the table near the Beldam were what Cat could see as children…girls, to be precise. They all looked rather similar to each other and reminded the feline of someone he knew. When one of them raised their head so he could see their face, Cat's blue eyes shot open.

"_Coraline?!" _Cat whispered in absolute shock. Coraline was back in the Other World?! And to add more obscurity to the matter, why was there four of her. No, none of this was possible. Something bizarre was going on and the black cat had to find out.

Taking in a deep breath, Cat pushed himself through the small gap of the ajar window. To avoid being seen, he slid behind a set of cleaned and perfectly aligned dishes, only slightly poking his head out to see what was going on.

"Mother, Coraline's cheating." The four Coraline look-alikes were playing a card game. Cat looked at the supposed 'Coraline' who said that; she was missing an arm, a leg and an eye with a patch covering the socket. A black button was in place of the other eye and the girl had greyed skin and basically looked completely dishevelled.

'_Well, isn't she a sight…' _Cat thought, looking sickened by this 'Coraline's' appearance.

The 'Coraline' that had been accused of cheating looked, to Cat's shock the weight of a baby killer whale. Her stomach stuck out like she was 6-7 months pregnant; her arms and legs were round and thick like logs and her backside looked as if it were stuffed to the brim with fruit jelly. Like the crippled 'Coraline', this obese one had black button eyes.

"I'm not cheating, you stupid head!" This second Coraline, whom Cat had now named Coraline 2 and the crippled one Coraline 1, yelled viciously . "It's not like you could tell with only one button eye!"

'_What a beastly little brat…' _Cat thought in disgust, poking his tongue out a bit. The food this Coraline 2 knock-off was being fed would probably be more than enough to feed seven Ethiopian villages.

"Must you two always argue like immature babies?" Spoke up the third 'Coraline' sitting at the table in a flat emotionless voice. This look-alike, dubbed Coraline 3 by Cat, looked like the genuine article except she was a lot thinner and of course there was the matter of the black button eyes. Her nearly blank expression could only best be described as bored. "There are a lot of situations in the world that can be solved without yelling, screaming and violence." She spoke in perfectly articulate and dialectic English, without a single change of tone or use of abbreviation in some words. "You would find that your lives would be far much more relaxing if you did."

"Oh, shut up, Coraline!" Coraline 2 hissed back, spit firing from her mouth. "It's not like anyone here wants to know what you of all people think!" But Coraline 3's expression remained unchanged; plain and bored.

'_Quite a…special girl that one is.' _'Special' was the only word Cat could really use to describe this third Coraline look-alike.

And at last the fourth and final 'Coraline' spoke up to the Beldam, sounding very irritated, "Mother, can you please sort my sisters out?" Now this look-alike looked and sounded just like the Coraline Cat knew with only two differences; the black button eyes and the colour of her hair a shining black instead of dark blue.

The Beldam, whom had been standing in front of a stove cooking what appeared to be dinner looked over her shoulder and told the 'Coraline', "Caroline, I'll be right with you. I'm just finishing off cooking dinner." Cooking dinner seemed to take a lot more effort since she no longer had her right hand. All what was left was a stump wrapped up in white bandages.

'_CArOline?! Sisters?!' _Cat thought to himself incredulously. _'Now I KNOW something is seriously wrong here!! Who ARE these girls?!' _

None of this made sense. All these girls looked like Coraline but each with significant differences that set them apart. They only two things these four 'sisters' shared in common were that they had button eyes and wore the same attire; a dark blue star sweater, except Coraline 2's stretched across her body since she was so fat and Coraline 3's clung to hers since she was so thin.

"Now Coraline and Coraline, you know you should not fight. It only makes the matter worse." The Beldam told Coraline 1 & 2 sternly as she turned to look at them.

"We're sorry, mother." Coralines 1 & 2 apologized simultaneously. They seemed to know which 'Coraline' their mother was addressing without her specifically saying so.

'_This place is like a lunatic asylum.' _Cat thought, shaking his head a bit and turning around so he could make his way out the window. _'I've got to go try and tell Coraline about this right now.' _Unfortunately however, as he moved up to make his exit out the window, Cat's tall unintentionally knocked one of the aligned plates, sending it crashing onto the floor.

_Crash!_

The four 'Coralines' dropped their cards at the sound and turned their heads in the direction of the smashed plate. They looked up to see the black feline standing up on the window sill and (with the exception of Coraline 3, who just tilted her head) let out loud squeals of terror.

"_**EEEEEK!!! IT'S THAT CAT!!!!!" **_Caroline and Coralines 1 & 2 shrieked as they got up from their seats and ran over to cower behind their mother pathetically. As this happened, Coraline 3 just took the time to look at her 'sisters'' cards.

"I'm out of here!" Cat said quickly as he attempted to push himself through the small gap of the ajar window. He was not fast enough as a hand stretched out to grab him roughly by the tail and pull him away from the window sill.

"_You…" _The Beldam scowled as her arm retracted and she held Cat up to her view. _"You little vermin!"_

But Cat maintained his composure and said to her plainly, looking around at the many Coraline look-alikes, "I see someone's been a busy bee over the last few months."

"I decided to settle down and raise a family of my own." The Beldam stretched down her bandaged stump wrist to stroke the hair of Coraline 2, whom was pathetically hugging onto her mother's hips. "But when you have to create a human duplicate from memory alone, it tends to a little difficult."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Cat hissed darkly, his big blue eyes narrowed. "Snap my neck and be rid of me."

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you…_yet!" _The Beldam replied, her form changing briefly to that of more slim and demonic. "Believe it or not, I actually need you right now."

"Oh, really?" Cat rolled his eyes doubtfully.

"Really. I want you to give your dear friend Coraline a message. Tell her…" Beldam leaned forward, appearing more monstrous and looking the black feline in the eye. _"Pretty soon, she is going to encounter me again, along with my…children. And this time…I do not plan to sew any buttons onto eyes. _Is that understood, vermin?"

"Quite." Was the Cat's answer before the Beldam pulled him over her head and flung in the direction of the window. He hit against the window surface but quickly pulled himself up onto his feet and slipped out the gap.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh." The evil witch giggled wickedly as she watched the cat run off. Three out of the four Coraline look-alikes began to laugh alongside their mother, now calmed down from their encounter with the cat.

All the while, Coraline 3 just rolled his eyes and continued to look through her sisters' cards. She came from a very strange family indeed.

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Outside, Cat continued to run away from the house until he had reached the beginning of the Other World's forest. He took a look back at the 'Pink Palace' with a scowl before continuing his leave from the Other World. He had to tell Coraline of the danger ahead for her and the ones she loved and cared about…

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**(A/N) Please Read and Review!**


	2. Chapter One

**(A/N) Hello, I am back with the first official chapter to my story. Please do enjoy it.**

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter One**

In Coraline Jones' world, white wisp clouds hung from the dull blue sky above Ashland, Oregon, USA. It was a slightly chilly day for Ashfield, especially around the forest near where the 'Pink Palace' apartments was built.

The front door of the 'Pink Palace' opened up and Charlie Jones walked out onto the porch, buttoning up his dark brown blazer and carrying a brown package in his hand. He had to drop off the latest issue of the garden catalogue he and his wife, Mel Jones were paid to type up.

Suddenly, a tall figure appeared hanging upside down from the canopy, addressing Charlie and taking him by surprise, "Good morning, Mr. Jones!"

It was Mr. Sergi Alexander Bobinsky, or Mr. B for short, the eight-feet-tall, blue skinned Russian gymnast and ringleader of the 'secret' mouse circus who lived in the upstairs apartment.

"Oh, Mr. B, good morning to you too." Charlie replied politely after regaining his composure. "Er, just going to drop off the latest catalogue me and the Mrs have just finished."

"Ah, yes, that is good, good." The giant blue Russian nodded quickly before asking Charlie sternly, "You…not happen to be seeing the young Lovatt boy, have you?"

"Wybie? No, I don't think so, why?"

"Just be telling young Lovatt the next time you see him that Mr. B knows what he did."

"Well, what did he do?"

Mr. Bobinsky replied very darkly, "Oh, he will already be knowing." He then smiled again and bid his farewell to his downstairs neighbour, "Das Vadanya, Mr. Jones." He recoiled up the veranda's canopy, disappearing from sight.

"Uh, goodbye, Mr. B." Charlie said uneasily before continuing his way down the steps of the veranda and towards his family's Volkswagen. He was quite the eccentric one, that Mr. Bobinsky.

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Inside the old large and divided house, Mel Jones walked down the empty ground floor corridor of the house, wearing her usual frumpy white turtleneck and black trousers. She looked through the small set of mail carelessly as she reached the end of the corridor.

"Coraline. _Coraline! _Where are you?" Mel called after her only child.

"_I__'__m in the living room, Mom.__"_ A familiar girl's voice responded from said room.

Mel walked over to the living room door, opened it up, went inside and then rolled her eyes at what she saw inside.

Coraline Jones, her hair as shining dark blue as always was sitting down on the sofa in front of the television, dressed up in her light red striped jumper and blue jeans.

Sitting down on the sofa to Coraline's left was small hunched and curly haired Wybie Lovat, grandson of the 'Pink Palace's' landlady. He was wearing his black and white striped jacket, skeleton gloves and blue jeans.

To Coraline's right sat a girl around Coraline and Wybie's age whom had pale skin and thick rectangular glasses over her green eyes. She sported hot pink hair tied up into a long ponytail that seemed to spike at the end. The girl wore a lumpy lime green sweater and black trousers. Most notably about the girl was that her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth.

The three children were playing the new _Blood Bath IX _on Coraline's new V-Cube game consol, the bright lights of the family television flashing before their faces. They had been playing this new game for hours on end now, resulting in rings forming around their tired eyes and drool trickling out from the edge of their lips.

"Well, what a surprise!" Mel said sarcastically, marching over to the sofa where the children sat. She stood in front of the television and demanded of them sternly, "Kids, how long have you been at this for?!"

"Uh…uhhh…" Wybie drooled almost mindlessly, he, Coraline and the other girl looking around Mel to look at the television.

"Three hours, thirty-seven minutes and counting." Spoke Coraline in a near monotone voice.

_V__hirscht!!_

The three kids on the sofa cheered loudly in triumph and Mel, who looked around at the television in time gawked in horror at the bloody scene on the video game. One of the monstrous green characters the children were playing as had just ripped the head off one of the spider-like monster enemies with its bare teeth!

"Oh, God, that's disgusting!" Mel commented in revulsion, stepping out of the way of the television and standing next to the sofa. "What kind of warped individual gets off on that?!"

All three of the children sitting on the sofa raised their hands.

Mel frowned and told her daughter angrily, putting her fists on her hips, "Coraline Greta Jones, I am not allowing you to keep wasting the precious moments of your childhood on such mind-numbing crap!"

"Oh, yeah right, Mom!" Coraline said clearly sarcastically, not taking her eyes off her video game for a second. "After all, I could be doing so much more important things with my time like getting drunk and getting pregnant by chain-smoking motorbike-driving boyfriend!" She held up her hand up to Wybie and said with a smirk, "Oh, yeah! Zing! Somebody gimme a high-five for that one!" The hunched boy smirked as well and slapped the palm of his friend's hand with his own.

"Coraline, that sort of thing is not funny!" Mel scolded her child strictly and she then motioned to all three of them. "You may not be as bad as those kind of girls, but even compared to them I'd still call you just sad! I mean, look at who you and Wybie are hanging out with now…" She then pointed specifically at the girl on the sofa with hot pink hair and in the lime green sweater. "Sally Malkinson, for Christ's sake!"

The spectacled and pink haired girl sat there, looking around awkwardly as she continued playing the videogame. "What'ss so bad about hanging out with me?" She asked, speaking with a lisp. The girl did not really understand why she was in no way popular in and out of school.

"Shut up, Sally Malkinson." Coraline told the girl known as Sally Malkinson harshly, still looking at the television screen instead of her. She then did a mock impression of the girl, emphasising on her lisp,_ "__I__'__m Ssally Malkinsson, I__'__ve sspeak with a lisp and I__'__ve got diabetess.__"_

"Hey, don't make fun of my diabetess." Sally Malkinson said in annoyance, giving Coraline a glare.

"_Don__'__t make fun of my diabetess, I__'__m Ssally Malkinsson.__"_ Coraline mocked her once again with an arrogant smirk, earning a snigger from Wybie.

"You can rip on her, Coraline, but that doesn't overlook the fact that you and Wybie are still hanging out with her!" Mel crossed her arms, trying to get her point across to Coraline. "Don't you think this shows you're letting yourself go social-wise, even just a little bit?!" She said to Sally Malkinson quickly, "Sorry, Sally Malkinson, no offence, but it is true."

There was a _vroom _noise and Sally Malkinson pointed out to Coraline in protest, "Hey, Coraline, that wass ssuppossed to be my power-up pack."

"_That wass ssupposed to be my power-up pack, I__'__m Ssally Malkinsson.__"_ Coraline made a mock impression of her for a third time. Mel just sighed in exasperation and walked out the living room, deciding to just give up.

Unknown to everyone else, a certain spooked feline was standing up on all fours on the window sill outside, looking into the living room. He needed to 'talk' with Coraline as soon as he could…

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Hours passed and after finally tiring of _Blood Bath IX, _Coraline, Wybie and Sally Malkinson took their fun outside in front of the 'Pink Palace'. They tried out a number of outdoor games like tennis, American football and golf.

Right now, the trio were trying out a game of badminton. Coraline and Wybie stood at one side of the net while Sally Malkinson stood at the other.

"All right, Sally Malkinson, I'm sending the shuttlecock your way." Coraline was now wearing her yellow raincoat, multicoloured mittens and old navy cap worn by her great-great-grandfather in the First World War fighting for Imperial Germany.

_Thwack! _Coraline tossed the shuttlecock up into the air and sent an overhead pass over the net towards Sally Malkinson.

"I got it…I got it…_OW!!__" _The shuttle cock hit Sally Malkinson in the eye! She dropped her racquet and covered her stricken eye as she collapsed on the ground. "My eye! You hit me in my eye!"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!" Coraline and Wybie laughed loudly and almost sadistically at the sight. They may have hung out with the unpopular girl more often than not but they would never pass up an opportunity to take a shot at her.

Just then, Coraline felt something vibrating against her leg. She looked down to see Cat there, his eyes narrowed and fur standing up on end.

"Hi there, Cat. How are you?" Coraline knelt down and attempted to pet him on the head, but the cat let out a high-pitched hiss in response. She stood up and told off the cat sternly, "Hey, what's your deal, ya mangy little wuss puss?!"

Cat let out another high-pitched ear-piercing hiss, his body going rigid and his teeth bared. Wybie wagged his finger at him, scolding his pet of sorts, "Cat, why are you acting like a little dipstick?!"

But Cat started nudging his head hard against Coraline's leg, making her back-up slightly. "Hey, what the Hell are you doing? Knock it off! Bad Cat! Bad!"

Cat turned around in the direction of the 'Pink Palace' and pointed his paw and tail rigidly towards it.

"Uh, yeah, that's my home, Cat. We all know that." As Coraline said this, Cat began to move closer to the large faintly pink house, occasionally turning his head around to tilt his head in its direction. He was obviously indicating Coraline to follow him.

"Ugh! Wybie, I'll be right back. I've gotta go see what your damn pet wants." Coraline walked passed Wybie and proceeded to follow after Cat.

Wybie shrugged and then picked up his shuttlecock and racquet, smirking slightly. "Hey, Sally Malkinson, heads up!" He threw the shuttlecock up into the air and sent another overhead pass like Coraline over the net.

"Ow! My other eye!"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Cat dashed up onto the porch of the large house, Coraline chasing up behind him. "Cat, hold on, for Christ's sake! What are you doing?" The black feline hopped up onto the window sill and slipped through the open crack.

"_CAT!!! _Get out of there!" Coraline gasped in horror as she ran up onto the porch, opened the door and ran inside. "Don't you know what my Mom will do if she sees you?"

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Now inside the house, Coraline looked left and right for her mangy friend and on hearing the familiar sound of a hiss, she bolted into the living room. _"CAT!!"_

Cat was sitting up straight in the living room by one of the bare walls, still looking around in suspicion. Coraline scowled, her face flushing red. She ran over to the feline and kneeled down in front of him.

"Cat, you're acting like an idiot!!" Coraline put her hands roughly on the Cat's back. She was furious with the black cat right now. If Mel Jones was to come in and find the Cat inside her apartment, she would have a pet. She did not have anything against cats, but the woman was definitely not a pet person. "Have you had one too many hits in the head from a frying pan or something!?"

The mangy black cat started pounding his paw against a small square section on the bare bluish white wall. It was…a door. _The _door. The door Coraline had made sure to lock only a few months ago.

Coraline put her hand to her throat as she felt a large lump form in her throat. The blood flowing through her veins had gone straight from boiling hot to ice cold. No, even colder than that; absolute zero.

Her lips trembling and her eyes growing to the size of dinner plates, Coraline collapsed onto her back and crawled backwards away from the small simple looking door. "Oh, no…no, Cat, I'm done with this. I've dealt with more than enough doors for one lifetime." She had been doing her best to act out her life as if that dratted door and the horrific things that lay behind it did not exist.

But Cat was not going to have any of that. He marched and climbed up onto Coraline chest, nestling himself into her raincoat. She stroked his back and told him almost cooingly, "You don't understand, Cat. I barely escaped the last time with my life. The best I can do is try to put it behind be." The blue-haired pointed her hand to the door. "Showing me this for whatever reason does not help. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Coraline tried to bring herself up onto her feet, but Cat pounced down hard on her chest, forcing the girl back onto the floor. Hissing louder than before, Cat's tail pointed sharply towards the door. He had not made his message clear enough yet and he was not letting Coraline go until he did.

"What is it now?! What do you want from me, Cat?" Coraline moaned, cringing her teeth hard. She was really being pushed to her limit at the moment.

After hopping of the girl's chest, Cat sat up straight on the floor and stopped for a moment to take in a deep breath. His pointed his tail at the door one more time and did the best an impression of a certain hag he could. He hunched his back, shut his eyes tight and flashed his sharp teeth, while holding out his paw with bared claws. He made high throaty caterwauling, spit firing out of his mouth.

There was only one person Coraline could make out that impression to be.

"It's her, isn't it?" Coraline's voice was almost at the point of whimpering like a baby. "Sh-she's at it again, isn't she?"

His message finally gotten through to her, Cat sighed and gave a nod as if to say _Yes._

Coraline got up onto her knees, closing her own eyes and deeply breathing in and out. "I…have nothing to worry about. The door is locked. The key is at the bottom of a well. I'm safe."

Cat shook his slowly as if saying _No. _

"Well, regardless of what you think, as far as I'm concerned, I'm in the clear." Coraline got up on her feet and picked the cat up in her arms. "Now come on, I've gotta get you oughta here before-"_  
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"Eh-hem!"

Coraline yelped and turned around with cat still in her arms. Mel Jones was standing there in the doorway of the living room, her arms crossed and foot tapping hard on the floor. She looked seriously pissed off as she glared at her daughter.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh. Hi, Mom." Coraline nervously grinned, holding Cat up to make him and her look cute and innocent. When she saw this was not working, Coraline frowned and stared gloomily at the floor with a sigh. "Oh, boy…"

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Meanwhile, outside the 'Pink Palace' and from an old tree nearby, a small but cute white mouse sat on the lowest branch. It was spying on what was occurring in the living room in secrecy. This mouse had one distinct feature that set it apart from any other run-of-the-mill mouse; it had small black buttons over its eyes…

Watching the scene play out from a boiling pot of pine green sludge, sinister shadows formed over the pot and the stove it was set on.

A ladle tipped into the pot and pulled out a spoonful of the pine green sludge. A black and white stripped worm with red eyes poked its head out of the green sludge; its eyes glowing red and a yellow tongue poking out its mouth.

The tallest shadow smirked as she held the ladle to her mouth and drank from it, before cackling quietly, _"Ooooh, Coraline. You think you're safe, huh? But…you're not. __Hahahaha……_"

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**(A/N) And I will leave it off there. Once again, I really hope you are all enjoying this story so far. Please Read and Review.**


	3. Chapter Two

**(A/N) Hello, I am back with the second chapter to my story where we start to move along more with the plot. I am sure you will enjoy it. Please do enjoy it. **

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Two**

Mel Jones was not happy at all to see Coraline carrying Cat in her arms inside their apartment. Cat was taken outside immediately and then Coraline was 'treated' to an hour long lecture by her mother about the latter's strict 'no pets' policy. As punishment for breaking the rules as it were, Coraline was not allowed to go outside for the rest of that day.

_"Jonsey! Hey, Jonsey!" _Hearing the voice of her irritating neighbour outside, Coraline climbed off her bed and lurched across her bedroom to the closed window. She opened it up and looked down to see Wybie and Sally Malkinson there. They were standing just outside the 'Pink Palace' apartments and staring up at her.

"What is it, you guys?" Coraline put her elbow on the window sill and her cheek in her palm.

"We thought you were coming back outside." Wybie said loudly enough for Coraline to her from the window sill, leaning against his parked motorbike. "Me and Sally are gonna go over to the arcade."

The blue haired girl scowled and replied bitterly, while crossing her arms, "I can't, Wybie. My mom said I'm not allowed to go outside for the rest of the day."

"Why not?"

"Your stupid cat, that's why! My mother's skin reached a whole new shade of red when she found him inside the house." She yelled, pounding her fist on the window sill. Coraline grabbed the windows and told the two, "You guys go on without me. Hell, I've beaten almost every record at the arcade anyway."

"All right, we'll try to win a prize for ya." Wybie told his best friend before he mounted his motorbike, pulled his metallic skull mask over his face and road off. "See ya later!"

Sally just stood there cluelessly until she eventually released Wybie had driven off without her. She turned around and ran off after him, calling his name, "Hey! Hey, Wybie! Wait up!"

Before she slammed the windows shut, Coraline rolled her eyes and remarked under her breath, _"Stupid bitch." Slam!_

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The next day in the late morning, things went along as usual for the residents of the pink palace. Mel and Charlie Jones woke up early to get straight to work on their next gardening catalogue. As of late, their employers were short on workers and thus they were putting more work pressure on their few ones, i.e. Mr and Mrs Jones. That was why the two had to start typing up the next catalogue right after the previous one had just been finished without a break.

As for Coraline, she was still in trouble for apparently letting Cat into their apartment and so was not allowed to go outside that day either. So the bored girl had to find something else to do just to pass the time.

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Right now, Coraline was laying down on the living room couch lazily like an Arabian princess of some kind. She put her head against a big soft pillow and ate greedily from a large pink bowl of salt water taffy she found in the corner kitchen cabinet. Actually, if anything, she was resting more like a female humanoid version of Jabba the Hutt. She was watching some cheap but funny television show about some sailor travelling around the seas on a tugboat looking for fights.

_"__Oi, what the Hell are you looking at, ya shitbird?! I__'__m gonna wallop ya!!__"__ POW!! BIFF!! THWACK!! _The tall strong sailor screamed at an innocent bystander on the television and proceeded to beat the living tar out of him.

The poor innocent bystander on the television yelled in terror as he was pummeled mercilessly by the much stronger sailor. _"Ow! Ow! What are you doing?! You can't do that!! Ow! Ow! Oh, my dear sweet God, no!! No!! Aaaggghhh!!!_"

Her eyebrow rising in confusion, Coraline asked herself, "Okay, seriously, why is this guy always beating up everyone he sees?"

"_Coraline!_" Mel's voice yelled to her daughter from her common workplace in the kitchen. "_CORALINE!!__"_

"What?!" Coraline shut her eyes tight in aggravation and called back, still looking at the television, "What is it, Mom?"

"_Coraline, I want you to clean up the living room. It__'__s getting filthy.__"_

The blue haired girl patted her already full belly and reminded her mother with more than a hint of arrogance, "What about what we discussed before, Mother? Dad cooks, you clean and I stay out the way. I'm currently underway with my official duty."

"_Don__'__t you use sass with me, young lady!__" _Mel's voice barked. She was not prepared to have any arguments with her child today. _"__I__'__ve got enough work to do, so I won__'__t have time to clean it up myself. I__'__m asking you to do this one thing for me.__"_

"All right, all right, I'll clean it up." Coraline pulled herself off from the sofa and looked over the many salt water taffy wrappers on the floor. She let out a groan and clutched her stomach as if a rock was nestled inside it. The girl had eaten too much taffy. "This is gonna take a while." It was not just taffy wrappers that made the living room look so unappealing. Dust had gathered on the furniture and there were numerous food and drink stains on the floor. "How'd this place get so dirty?"

So Coraline got to work on cleaning up the family living room. She started with the dozens of salt taffy wrappers on the floor and then took a wet sponge and scrubbed up the many stains on the floor.

When she was halfway done, Coraline heard a grumbling noise and she grasped her stomach which was now aching. "Ohhhhh, God, how old was that taffy, anyway? Ohhhhh…."

"_I don__'__t hear any cleaning going on in there.__" _Mel's stern voice said to Coraline from the kitchen. _"When I told you to clean up the living room, I meant __**completely."**_

"Mom, my stomach's aching." Coraline whined, pressing her fingers into her stomach. She thought this little ache was nothing before but now it seemed to have developed into something nasty.

"_Have you been eating crap again?__"_

"If you mean junk food, then yeah." Coraline answered, still rubbing her stomach and getting up onto her feet again. She dropped the yellow sponge back into the metal bucket of water, making a little splash.

Mel sighed and told her, still sounding obviously preoccupied with her work, _"Okay, okay, come into the kitchen, take a Pepto-Bismol, sit down for a minute and then get straight back to work."_

Coraline knew it was most likely nothing to worry about. Maybe she was just tired or hot or maybe those taffies she had eaten were a little off. A Pepto-Bismol would do the trick, no problem. She began to make her way out of the living room when she heard a noise…

_Thump._

She stopped a few feet away from the doorway leading out of the living room, her eyes wide and arms frozen to her sides. Her head turned slowly as if on a pivot to look at the little door.

_Thump._

The little door shook on its hinges. Coraline's lips quivered and her jaw slowly dropped in horror.

_Thump._

Coraline started biting her bony fingers with her chattering teeth and her knees nearly buckled under her trembling body. Her skin had turned as white as a freshly washed sheet. _"No…oh, no…no, no, no, no, no."_

_Thump._

"_Coraline, are you going to come take your pill or what?" _Coraline heard her mother's voice speak to her again from out of the living room.

"C-c-coming, Mom." Coraline was surprised she even found her voice she felt so spooked.

_Thump. Thump! Thump!! __**THUMP!!!**_

The little door shook so violently that it looked as if it was going to explode off its hinges. Coraline let out a chocked scream and ran out of the living room and into the kitchen. "Aaaaaahhh!!!"

Mel nearly jumped off her seat at hearing her daughter's scream and seeing her run into the room as if she was being chased by a monster. "Coraline! What in the world is wrong with you?!"

Coraline backed up and collapsed against the kitchen wall, cold sweat running down her pale clammy face. She was hyperventilating loudly and her chest thumped up and down really hard. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked back and forth.

Mel saved the work on her laptop, got off her seat and went over to her freaked out daughter in concern. She took Coraline's face in her hands and asked her worriedly, "Honey, what's wrong? You're paler than a baby sheep!"

"Mommy, I…I don't feel well." Coraline shut her eyes and began retching, cold sweat now gushing down her face like a waterfall. The poor girl looked as if she was coming down with a fatal disease.

Mel put her hand to Coraline's moist forehead to check her temperature. It was scorching hot. "Coraline, you're burning up! Jesus Christ, what have you been eating?"

Coraline pulled one of the saltwater taffy wrappers out of her pocket and held it up to her mother. "Here ya go."

Mel looked the wrapper over and her eyes widened in shock when she recognized it. "Oh, my great good lord--" She turned her head and beckoned her husband angrily, "Charlie Jones, you get in this kitchen, right now!"

Charlie stumbled into the kitchen, nearly tripping up on his feet upon entry. "What? What?? What is it?! Fire? Hurricane?! Canadian invasion?!?" He then saw Coraline sitting against the wall and looking sickly. "Hey, Coraline, what's wrong with you? You're trembling all over."

Mel stood up, marched over to her husband and held the taffy wrapper up to his face. "Charlie, you're daughter has been eating _these!!"_

"What's this?" Charlie adjusted his glasses and looked the wrapper over. Once he fully recognized it, he gulped nervously, "Uh-oh…uh…oh." He kneeled down to Coraline and asked her seriously, "Coraline, tell me…just how many of these things have you ate?"

"Uh…half a bowlful…why?" She rubbed her forehead, trying in vain to rid her off the dizziness taking place within her skull. Coraline's vision was shaking out of focus as were the images she saw before her. "Ohhhh…ohhhh…"

"Okay…" Charlie stood up, trying his best to keep a calm steady head despite his fingers twitching and forehead sweating. He looked at his wife and advised her, tapping his fingers anxiously, "Um, Mel…I think we best get Coraline to a hospital, as in…_right now."_

Mel pulled her daughter onto her feet and told her as calmly as she could, "Okay, Coraline, go get in the car now." She put the girl's hand in her father's as she said to the latter, "Charlie, you take her. I'll get the keys."

Charlie tried to keep Coraline on her feet as he took her out of the kitchen, through the hallway and outside the house. Mel ran to the counter and fumbled for the house and car keys. She switched off and closed her laptop, realising now that getting a good start on the gardening catalogue that day was quite unlikely indeed.

* * *

The Jones found themselves quite lucky to get immediate service once they reached the _Ashland General Hospital_. The doctors took Coraline into a sterile white office and checked her temperature, pulse, saliva, coordination and such to test for what the problem was. They deducted from her saliva test that she must have accidentally consumed something containing toxins. Charlie informed the doctors that the 'saltwater taffy' Coraline had consumed half a bowl of was originally collected by his father, Norman Jones back in the sixties. When the word 'sixties' was brought up, it was instantly clear to everyone else what was in those 'taffies'.

The doctors gave them a bottle full of blue pills for Coraline to take and of course recommended bed rest and that she drank plenty of fluids. The hospital bill was affordable for the Jones' so Mel was not too pissed off.

* * *

That night around 9:30, Coraline laid in her bed, the covers pulled up to her neck and also tucked underneath her back. Mel set a tall glass of cold water and a small plate of the blue pills next to her beside cabinet. She sat down on the bed; lifted her daughter's head; popped two pills into her mouth; put the glass to her lips and let her swallow.

"Yeah, that'll do." Mel kissed Coraline on the forehead and got up from the bed. She yawned loudly, sounding mighty tired, "Now you just get as much sleep as you can, okay?"

"Okay, Mom…" Coraline whispered, almost mumbling her words. She had rings around her eyes and her skin was still pale. Her vision was still quite out of focus but it was not as bad as before. "Mom?"

Mel looked down at her daughter just as she was about to make her way over to the door. "Yeah, honey, what is it?"

"I was just wondering..." Coraline cocked her head to the bedroom window, asking her mother with a puppy dog look, "Could you open the window a bit?"

"Fine." Mel rolled her eyes, went to the window and opened it slightly to let a cool breeze into the bedroom. "There you go. Now I've got to get back to work. I'll check up on you in the morning."

The blue haired girl yawned herself; sounding obviously tired now, "Alright, Mom. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight." Mel flicked off the lights in the bedroom and walk out into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind her.

Now left alone in her dark room and tucked into her bed, Coraline took in a deep breath and sighed, closing her eyes. The only light escaping into the room was the pale moonlight coming through the open bedroom window. It looked tranquil; perfect for a girl to get a goodnight's sleep.

'_Okay, Coraline girl, let's review this one more time; it was all nothing, then.' _Coraline thought to herself, her head caressed by her soft pillow. _'The little door wasn't really being pounded from the other side. All I saw and heard was just a bowlful of hallucinogenic taffy. Those thumping noises were just a load of cra-'_

_Thump._

Coraline's eyes shot open. "No way."

_Thump!_

"This isn't real." Coraline's head turned on its side, trying to ignore the sound.

_**Thump!**_

"_Coraline…" _An eerie female voice echoed throughout all corners of the girl's room. _"Coraline…"_

"No…" Coraline squeezed her eyelids shut as hard as she could. "This isn't real…go to sleep, Coraline…go to sleep."

"_Coraline…why did you leave me, Coraline? Why?" _The warm female voice taunted her again, making the girl squirm around in her bed.

Coraline repeated to herself, speaking in mumbles as she was losing her consciousness, "Go to sleep…"

"_Coraline…you can't escape me, young lady…" _The voice whispered harshly, sounding more sinister now."

"_Go to…sleep…" _Coraline yawned one last time before her head tilted on its side against the pillow, falling asleep at last.

"…_Coraline…"_

* * *

Hours passed and by now it was nearing midnight. The full moon shone bright like a beacon in the starless but wispy night sky. The gentle breeze swayed the branches of the many forest trees, making them give out loud creeks and squeaks. No creature, big or small could be seen moving about the trees, taking away what little life was left in the forest.

In the forest and standing on top of a small mount was a hunched boy wearing a black and white stripped coat and a metallic three piece turrent lense skull mask. Set up in front of him on the mount was an old motorbike that he was currently repairing using the tools from a red metal toolbox. He lifted the mask up over his face; it was Wybie.

Wybie was right now tightening the nuts of his motorbike's pedal crank using an outdated and rustic wrench. Once he made sure the metal nuts were as tight in place as possible, he dropped the wrench back into the red toolbox and closed the lid.

_Crreeek!_

The boy jumped in shock when he heard the sound, turning around to face whatever it was. Wybie looked up at saw two long tree branches rubbing against each other from the wind, giving off a same but fainter creaking noise.

"Oh." Wybie sighed to himself quietly, wiping his forehead with his skeletal gloved hand. "Crazy imagination. I could have sworn there was someone there..." He turned back to face his motorbike once again, picking up a wet rag from the seat and cleaning dirt from the bike's metal surface.

_Rustle._

Wybie raised his head and turned back again at hearing the bushes rustle. There _was _someone there. "Hello?" He opened the lid of his red metal box and took out an old rusty hammer. The boy heard the rustling noise and he held up the hammer in some kind of self-defence. "Someone there? Come on out..." _Rustle, rustle, rustle. _Wybie then spotted a pair of blue eyes in the shadows of the bushes. "H-hey, I'm armed with a hammer! You wanna tussle, then let's do it! 'Cause if you wanna piece of me, come on! I'm an all you can eat salad bar, buddy!"

A small mangy shadow leaped out from the bushes' shadows and landed a few feet away from Wybie, making the latter scream and back away in fear. But this moment of terror for Wybie was very much short-lived once he recognized who it was.

"Cat! You nearly have gave me a heart attack!" Wybie scolded the black cat as it sat up straight on a large flat rock fixed into ground. The boy went back to cleaning his motorbike as he spoke to Cat, although he knew the feline was not going to talk back, "You really shouldn't do that, Cat. You had me scared for a moment."

Cat remained silent, his blue eyes as calm as ever and his tail twirling left and right in midair.

Wybie continued, watching his faint reflection in the freshly polished metal surface of the motorbike, "But best it's just you here, eh? I mean, for one moment I actually thought you were my grandma." The pint-sized boy should not have been out at this time of night. He had to quietly slip out when his grandmother was fast asleep. But why was he going out so late that night like any other? In truth, Wybie just enjoyed having some private time to make a few improvements on his beloved motorbike and night-time was the best time for him.

"Why if my grandma found me out here at this time of night, she'd...wait, what's this?" Wybie kneeled down to inspect the back wheel of his motorbike; one of the spokes was snapped in half. "Oh, jeez..." He opened up his red metal toolbox, took out a small blowtorch and long piece of solder and lowered his metallic skull mask over his face. "Just a little tune up will do..." Wybie lit the blowtorch and began soldering the broken ends of the sprocket together. All the while, Cat flattened himself out against the smooth flat rock, resting his head slightly.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the 'Pink Palace', mostly all the house's residents had retired for the evening. Only silence remained within all the apartments, excluding the gentle _drip drop _of the Jones' kitchen sink's tap. If a mouse was to scurry along the floorboards of any room, it would be one of the loudest things possible. This perfect silence, however peaceful and beautiful, like all others was soon broken however...

_Music. _A gentle, harmonious but mechanical lullaby of sorts coming from one of the apartments. You would have to wait and listen very carefully in order to hear it but it was definitely there. The residents of the 'Pink Palace' were either too deep in their sleep or too preoccupied with whatever they were doing to pay any attention. But the music was spreading throughout the house and soon out through the cracks of ajar windows.

* * *

Outside, the alluring music was carried by the blowing wind into the forest. It was still difficult to be heard effectively but the mechanical lullaby's presence was definitely there. It did not take long to reach a place in the forest where a familiar boy and his pet were.

Wybie had finished his soldering and was admiring his work until he took notice of the sudden break of his much valued silence. He raised his head high and listened. Anyone else may not have heard this mechanical lullaby, but he could hear it as clear as a bell. It was so...entrancing.

Cat could hear it as well with his super-sensitive feline hearing. _'What is that...?' _He thought to himself and he rotated his head left and right.

Wybie's skull mask remained over his face but he stood there as silent and still as a statue. He dropped his switched off blowtorch into the red toolbox without closing the lid and mounted his cleaned up motorbike. He did not say a single word as he left his feline friend alone on the mount.

The black mangy feline saw the boy mounting his motorbike and cocked his head in confusion. _'Wybourne? What is he doing now?'_

Starting up his motorbike and blaring the air horn, Wybie drove his vehicle off the small mount on which it was parked. He disappeared into a large set of trees, leaving his metal toolbox behind. But that is not what really confused the black cat; it was the fact that Wybie's home was in the complete opposite direction...

_'Oh, dear. Something is wrong. I can feel it in my fur.'_

_

* * *

_

Wybie's motorbike continued on its journey until the boy pulled it up at a small clearing in the woods at the bottom of a steep slope. The boy climbed off his vehicle and walked straight towards a particular spot in the clearing. It was the top of a boarded up well. _The _well in which he and Coraline disposed the door key a few months ago after a brief confrontation with a certain severed hand.

His metallic skull mask still covering his face, Wybie dashed silently up to the well, his feet displacing dirt and old leaves as he ran. Once he reached the edge of the well's beginning, the boy began pulling and kicking off the boards covering the top. Once he tore the last board off, Wybie looked down into the well as if assessing what he was about to do next.

After a brief moment or two, Wybourne bent his knees and stayed in that squatting position for a few seconds. Then without hesitation, he jumped up high into the air and plummeted down into the well!

And what happened then, you may ask? Nothing for the next ten minutes or so. With the exception of the parked motorbike, it was as if Wybie was never there...

A skeletal gloved hand emerged from the well and grasped onto the edge of the well's beginning. Its fingers dug into the soft ground to reinforce its grip. The hand's palm pushed onto the ground and its owner soon also emerged from out of the deep dark well. It was Wybie again, his coat now covered in mud and drenched in dirty water.

Climbing out of the well and standing up straight again, Wybourne lifted hit metallic skull mask, revealing his face. His tanned skin pigment had faded and his eyes' pupils were no longer visible. His face also lacked any hint of expression or emotion. The boy could have easily been mistaken for some kind of zombie.

Wybie was holding onto something with his hand by a tether. It was a black key. He trekked back to his motorbike and drove mindlessly away from the well.

* * *

Minutes later, the motorbike stopped outside the 'Pink Palace' apartments. Wybie dismounted it once again, removed his metallic skull mask and dropped it to the ground next to his vehicle. Still holding the key by the tether, Wybie made his way up to the house, following the music; the mechanical lullaby he had been listening to all this time. The source was coming from somewhere in the 'Pink Palace' and he had to find it.

Wybourne sneaked up to the kitchen window of the Jones' apartment that had been left open a crack. He grabbed the bottom of the window and slowly flipped it upwards so it was begin enough for him to fit through. Wybie kicked off his shoes and clambered through the open space of the window frame.

* * *

Now inside the 'Pink Palace', Wybie leaped over the kitchen sink and landed on his feet on the kitchen floor. He performed this task with the stealth and grace of a professional gymnast. The music was growing stronger and more defined now. He was close.

Wybie slid throughout the hallways of the Jones' apartment with just as great stealth as his entrance. His performance could surpass that of any cat burglar or ninja. The hunched boy followed the music he could hear perfectly to the source; the living room.

He poked his head into the Jones' living room and at last detected the origin of the arousing music that led him. It was the small door that glowed an eerie green at its frame's cracks and through the key hole. Wybie now smiled broadly, his teeth showing and the edges of his mouth reaching his ears.

Approaching the door and getting down on his knees, Wybourne held out the key and inserted it into the key hole.

_Click._

Wybie opened the door and stared inside in awe. He saw a long illuminated magenta and blue patterned tunnel reaching out for miles. Still illusioned by the entrancing music and thus without a second thought, Wybourne Lovat crawled through the door and into the tunnel. He closed the door quietly behind him, leaving the key inserted in its hole.

He was gone...

* * *

**(A/N) And I will the chapter off there. I am actually quite glad with how it turned out and I hope you all do too. If not, I assure you I will improve as the story goes on. Well, until next time, please do read and leave a review.**


	4. Chapter Three

**(A/N) Hello, I am back with the third chapter to my story. Here Coraline decides she must swallow her fears and enter the other world once again to rescue her friend Wybie. I am sure you will enjoy it. Please do read on. **

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* * *

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Three**

Coraline Jones laid in her bed, still engulfed in a deep sleep. Her head rested heavily against her bed and drool leaking out the edge of her mouth. The girl's bed blanket was wrapped tightly around her body, greatly restricting her movement.

_Knock. Knock. _The door of Coraline's bedroom then opened and in walked Mel Jones, holding a new glass of ice cold water in her hand. "Morning, Coraline." She walked over to her daughter's bed and kneeled down in front of it. "It's 7:35."

"Ugggghh..." Coraline's head twitched a bit and she opened her extremely heavy eyes to look up at her mother. Her ravaged eyes were bloodshot and had thick rings around them. "Moooooom...?"

"Yeah."

"I'm thirsty." She spoke with a now raspy voice.

Mel took a couple of blue pills from the plate on her bedside cabinet and said, "Open up." Coraline opened her mouth and Mel shoved the two pills inside. She then put the glass of cold water to her Coraline's lips, helping her swallow the pills easier with a liquid.

"All right, now are you feeling better?" Mel put her hand to her daughter's forehead to check her temperature. It was actually less hot than the day before. "Hmmm, your temperature feels better, but it's still kind of hot."

"Yeah, I still feel kinda…_blagh!__"_The girl stuck out her tongue, pulling a sickly face. Her voice now sounded more clearly thanks to the water.

Mel stood up, set the glass of ice cold water down on the cabinet and picked up the old glass from last night. "Well, at this rate, you may be all better by the end of the day."

"So you think I could go outside today?" Coraline asked her mother hopefully.

Mel stopped to think about this before she answered, "We'll see in a couple of hours. If you're feeling better by then, I suppose I can let you go outside for a little while."

"Thanks, Mom." Coraline said, now resting her head more comfortably on her pillow. "I guess I could go with Wybie and Sally to the arcade."

"Sally, sure, but…" Mel appeared somewhat concerned as she said the next part, tapping her finger against the old glass surface. "I wouldn't count too much on Wybie, honey."

Coraline raised her eyebrow and forced herself up meekly into a sitting position. She looked confused. "Wait, wait, Mom…what do you mean I "shouldn't count of Wybie"?" The blue haired girl frowned crossly and told her mother sternly, "Mom, look, I know Wybie is an annoying weirdo, but he's actually a very nice kid and-"

Mel but her hand up to stop her daughter in mid-sentence, telling her exhaustedly, "No, no, Coraline, it's nothing like that." She placed the old glass back on top of the cabinet and now sat back down on the bed surface in front of Coraline. "What I mean is Wybie literally can't hang out with you today."

But Coraline was still confused. "I don't get it. Is he sick or something?"

"Uh, no. Actually…" Mel paused and rubbed the side of her rigid neck. Her brace had been removed just over a week ago and random pains plagued her neck ever since. Now aspirin was never out of her reach; she even had some in her pocket right now. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, Coraline but Wybie's kind of…." She really had now other way of putting this. "Disappeared."

There was short-lived silence and Coraline cocked her head, asking completely dumbfounded, "What?"

"Mrs. Lovat called not so long ago." Mel explained, remembering back to that said moment of the morning. "She said Wybie was not in his room this morning. Then Miss Spink and Miss Forcible found his motorbike outside in front of the house and now she's really starting to get worried."

"Oh…" Coraline looked down at her bed blanket worriedly. "I hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he's fine." Mel tucked the blue haired girl's blankets underneath her back again.

"But you said Miss Spink and Miss Forcible found his bike outside without him on it. That doesn't sound good and-"

Mel put her finger to Coraline's lips, shushing her, "Relax. That boy hangs around the woods all the time." She lifted Coraline's head up and flipped her pillow onto the other side before putting her head down again. "My guess is he's just fallen asleep in the woods on a late night stroll or something. You watch he'll show up before you know it."

"Okay…" Coraline did not sound convinced. At all.

Standing up straight, Mel said as she went to the bedroom door, "Good, so I'll check up you in a couple of hours and we'll see if you can go outside. Who knows, by then Wybie may already be back home safe and sound."

"Whatever you say."

"Oh, and one more thing…" Mel stopped and looked back at her daughter to ask her, "Coraline, you haven't been messing around with that door again, have you? I found its key in its lock for some reason."

Coraline's eyes widened and her blood flow felt like it came to a complete halt. She forced herself up to look at her mother flabbergasted. Did she just say what she thought she said?! "W-what?"

"The door." Mel repeated in a bored tone as if it were no big deal at all. "That little one in the living room. You were pretty much obsessed with it when we first moved in, remember? I found the key inserted into its lock for some reason."

"Mom, I've been playing my game for the last week." Coraline answered, still looking absolutely distressed at hearing the very mention of the little door and more importantly its key. "Of course I haven't been doing anything."

Mel nodded and remarked before closing the door shut, "Okay then, it doesn't really matter. I've got enough work to keep me worried as it is. Well, you just try and get some more sleep." She closed the door, leaving Coraline now alone by herself in the room.

Coraline lay in her four poster bed, staring up at the canopy with pale eyes. She pushed out her tucked blankets slightly so she could pull out her hands. Coraline began fiddling with her hands nervously as she reviewed the situation as it were over and over in her mind. Wybie had mysteriously disappeared for whatever reason and just now her mother had found a key she personally disposed of inserted in the lock...of its door.

The door. _The _door that led Coraline into the adventure of a lifetime. _'Mom said she's found the key in the lock?!' _Coraline thought frantically, her eyes darting left and right. _'That's not possible. It's impossible! Me and Wybie got rid of it ourselves!' _

Trying to forget the issue about the key, Coraline focused on the matter of Wybie's disappearance. Where had he gone off to? He knew better than to disobey his grandmother's rules. One time he was late home by ten minutes and Grandmother Lovat put him over her knee for it.

She thought about something that really made her feel a lump in her throat. What if these two problems were somehow connected? It sounded most likely; her friend disappearing suddenly and the key he helped dispose of reappearing did not sound like a coincidence. But it was something Coraline did her best to deny; since that door was the last thing she wanted to think about. But at the end of the day, the possibility of a key getting up on its own; climbing out of a well; sneaking into her home undetected and fitting into a key lock sounded…ludicrous.

All Coraline could do was wait for two hours and pray that Wybie would reappear by then. At least that way these two problems would be proven separate.

* * *

Two hours passed and Mel came back to check up on her. Unfortunately for Coraline, her informed her that Wybie had still not shown up that morning.

"…why Mrs. Lovat only called again just a few minutes ago." Mel finished telling her daughter, sitting back down on the four poster bed. Mel herself did not have much fondness for Wybie, but even she had a look of concern for the boy's whereabouts. "She sounds even more worried now. I don't wanna think something bad has happened to him but....you know what I mean?"

Coraline asked as Mel put her hand to the girl's forehead to check her temperature once again. "I-Is there anything I can do?" She really would like to help Mrs. Lovat and Wybie out. Mrs. Lovat did grow to like Coraline after meeting her at the garden party a few months ago.

Mel withdrew her hand from Coraline's forehead and deducted that the girl's temperature was close to enough to be classified as healthy. "Well, you're temperature has really gotten better. I guess you're well enough to go outside now." She pulled Coraline's blanket away, enabling the girl to move about again. "If you want to do anything to help, I guess you could go over to Mrs. Lovat's house. You know, check up on her to see if she's alright."

"Sure thing." Coraline got up on her bed and wiped the sleet away from her eyes. She looked down at her orange pyjamas and frowned, saying, "I need to have a shower though. Hopefully those exterminators got rid of all the bugs in the bathroom." As of recently, the bug population in the apartment's bathroom had been giving the Jones' some troubles and so they had to call in the 'Bug Busters'.

"They better have, 'cause I don't want to have to pay for them to come over for a fourth time." Mel looked out the bedroom window at the dark grey clouds hanging from the sky. "You won't have to worry too much about the weather when you go outside. It was raining a little while ago; it's only drizzling now." She shrugged and crossed her arms, giving the girl some advice, "Still, if I were you, I'd wrap up warm. Put on that yellow raincoat of yours and your great-great-grandfathers German navy cap. Though seriously, try and take better care of a thing. It's near enough a family heirloom, for Pete's sake!"

Coraline climbed out of her bed and walked out through the door followed by her mother, while doing her best to hide her worried face. Wybie had still not returned home and she still had to attend to the matter of the key. So what was Coraline to do now? Just have a nice long shower and deal with the problem afterwards.

* * *

When Coraline finished her hour long shower, she felt fresh as a newly grown daisy. Her blue hair was thoroughly washed and her skin was well moisturised. She slipped on her preferred blue star sweater and a freshly cleaned pair of trousers. Coraline could not bring herself to get rid of it after her adventure in the other world. It was just so soft, snug and comfortable to wear, especially on a cold day. Mel and Charlie did not recognize nor remember buying that star sweater from before and Mel was for certain she did not make it herself. But it was not like it was on their top priorities list so they just let Coraline keep it.

After coming down the staircase, Coraline walked into the living room and scowled at the little door fixed into the bare wall. That wretched door. When she first entered it those months ago, Coraline thought it led her into a paradise but soon discovered it was actually her own personal slice of _Hell!_

"There you are..." She marched over to the door and got down on one knee in front of it. What was she looking for? If anything, clues that would help her solve the mystery of Wybie's disappearance and the return of the key.

Coraline looked the door up and down and at the bottom crack found something that raised her eyebrow. "Hello? What have we here?" It was...dirt and a few faint muddy boot prints. She felt it with her fingers; it was dry, thus meaning it was old. "Someone's been here alright." Her parents, despite being employed to type up gardening catalogues, were definitely not fans of dirt or mud. This small amount of dirt and scuff could not be traced back to anyone in her family. But it was not like Coraline's parents ever noticed since they were in front of their computers most of the time.

The blue haired girl looked up at the door and saw the key was no longer in the lock. She hesitated but reached for the handle to see if the door would open. It would not budge. "Hmmm..." Where was the key her mother allegedly found?

Coraline stopped a moment to think and then snapped her fingers upon figuring it out. She got up onto her feet and made her way out of the living and into the kitchen. She really thought she could be dim sometimes. Where else would she find a key in that apartment...?

* * *

Mel Jones was busy spellchecking her work completed so far on her laptop and occasionally nursing her cup of coffee when Coraline came marching into her kitchen workplace.

"I _thought _you said you were going outside." Mel said dryly, looking from her laptop monitor to her daughter.

"I'm going to; I just need to get something first." The girl went over to the kitchen drawers and started pulling each one open. "Hey, Mom, where's the drawer where you keep all the keys?"

"Third one on the left." Mel answered, taking her cup and drinking a big gulp of coffee. She looked at her laptop monitor curiously and cocked her head confused, "Oh, so _that's _how you spell 'Sicily'."

Coraline pulled open the third drawer on her left as her mother instructed her to. She looked inside to find a large pile of keys of all shapes and sizes. "Where are you, you little fu--?" The girl then found on top of the pile a small black key attached by the handle to a black tether. "Aha! There you are!"

Having now found the key, the girl ran to the backdoor and was about to go outside when her mother addressed her again, "Hat! Coat! Now, Coraline!"

Coraline let out a seething groan of irritation through her gritted teeth. She took her raincoat and German navy cap off the coat peg and roughly shrugged them on. When she was finished, Coraline stood before her mother impatiently waiting for a reply.

Mel looked her daughter over for a second and stated, "Alright, now you may go."

"Thank you." Coraline opened the backdoor, stormed out and slammed it behind her. Mel merely rolled her eyes and continued to make her fingers dance about her laptop's keyboard.

_Brrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnggg!!!!_

Rubbing her aching temples, Mel grunted in frustration and got up from the table. She stomped out of the kitchen and into the living room to answer the phone. Picking the phone up and clearing her throat, Mel spoke into it at the verge of her patience, "Hello?" She paused to listen to the person on the other end and looked surprised at whom it was. "Oh, Mr. Green. How might I help you...?"

* * *

_Knock. Knock._

Mrs. Lovat, Wybie's grandmother heard the sound of her being knocked from her old armchair and shifted her head. She looked flustered and restless from the stress she had been through that morning. She had only gone to Wybie's bedroom in the early hours to wake him up for his chores when she discovered he himself was gone. And as the hours passed, her concern grew to great worry. The old lady thought she might have to call the police soon.

But now at the door, could it possibly be....?

"Wybourne?" She got up from her armchair and hobbled over to her front door, calling to the visitor, "Hold your horses! I'm coming!" She reached the door and opened it up to find that it was not her grandson standing there on the porch.

Coraline Jones smiled nervously, gently swinging her foot back and forth, "Hello, Mrs. Lovat." Her raincoat and navy cap were wet from the drizzling rain.

Mrs. Lovat put her hands on her hips and frowned at the blue haired girl, telling her sternly, "Coraline Jones, what are you doing out here in such weather?"

"My apologies, ma'am, but it's urgent." Coraline took off her cat and slowly put her hand into her raincoat pocket. "I-It's about Wybie."

"Wybourne? You know where he is, Coraline?" Mrs. Lovat put her hand on Coraline's shoulder and leaned forward anxiously.

"I...I have a _very _good idea where he is..." Coraline took the thing she was looking for out of her raincoat pocket and held it up by the tether. Grandma Lovat's eyes grew with fear at the object the girl held before her; the key.

Mrs. Lovat stood aside and motioned Coraline to come inside the house as she said cautiously, "I think it's best we continue this conversation in private, Coraline. Please do come inside and hang your hat and coat up."

The blue haired girl obliged and stepped inside the house, hanging her raincoat and German navy cap up on coat pegs. Mrs. Lovat looked outside one more time to check if anyone was watching before she slowly shut the front door.

All the while, Cat was watching from the banister of the veranda, his blue eyes glistening as she blinked a few times. His walked across the banister until he reached a good spot where he could look through the window and see what was going on inside. It was about time Coraline wised up and accepted the truth...

* * *

"...and then I took the key and came over here." Coraline finished her explanation, still holding the key up to Wybie's grandmother by the tether. They were both sitting down on the plastic covered sofa in the living room. In fact, almost all the furniture in the house appeared to be covered in plastic.

Grandma Lovat took the key from the girl slowly and gently, looking it over carefully. She had not seen this key for a long time. A very long time. "That..." The old lady was almost at a lost for words. "That unbelievable bitch. She's taken him. I can't believe it. After all these years, she's finally gotten her filthy claws on him..."

"W-we can't be sure of that just yet, Mrs. Lovat, but--" Coraline stuttered and fiddled with her fingers, looking down at them uneasily.

"Coraline." Mrs. Lovat said flatly, giving the girl a look as if she was a teenage boy saying to one of his homies 'dude, come on!'

"Okay, okay, you're right of course." Coraline finally admitted, dropping her hands onto her lap. "I've just been having a little trouble with denial as of lately."

Mrs. Lovat looked from the key to Coraline disapprovingly. "Coraline, I thought you said you and Wybourne successfully disposed of this by tossing it down that well."

Coraline ran her fingers through her blue hair and responded, "Well, we did...at least we _believed _we did. I mean, you really wouldn't expect it to come back after being tossed down a well, right?"

Setting the key down on the plastic covered seat of the sofa, Grandma Lovat bit her lip and stated, "This is serious, Coraline. She's back, there's no denying it. I'm not sure why, but she's taken Wybourne."

"But I just don't get it. Why would..._she _go after Wybie and not me?" Coraline was puzzled. She tapped the side of her head and she pondered all this. "It doesn't make sense to me."

"Neither does it to me, but we're not discussing what goes on in her twisted head, now are we?" Mrs. Lovat got up from the sofa to shift over to a small circular tea table. She muttered sounding upset as she poured herself a small cup of tea, "First my sister...now my grandson. When will she ever stop, Coraline? When will she stop?!"

Coraline did not know if that was a rhetorical question or not but still she replied, "She won't stop until she 'wins'. Sh-she's like some...no, I mean she _is _some unholy...monster." She sighed heavily and added, "I know she still wants me for whatever reason and if she's using Wybie to get to me then..." She dropped her head in shame. "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Lovat."

"I don't blame you, Coraline. If anything I applaud you for your actions against that hag." The old lady returned to the plastic covered sofa, her cup of tea in hand. "You saved your parents, escaped her clutches and in the end you and Wybourne took a piece of her along with you."

"Well, it looks like my work is not done." Coraline put her hands on her own knees, brooding in deep thought. "I can't keep denying it any longer..." She gulped and wiped away beads of sweat from her forehead. "I've gotta go back through the door.

But Mrs. Lovat looked horrified at the idea and she snatched the key out of the girl's view. "Coraline, don't be foolish! I want my grandson back more than anyone but what you're suggesting is extremely dangerous."

"I know that, but it's not like we've got a lot of different options." Coraline put her hands to her own face, rubbing them down hard against her cheeks. "My parents will never believe me if I tried to tell them. I mean, I'm shocked me and Wybie were able to convince you of what happened, Mrs. L."

"It's because I always knew, Coraline." Grandma Lovat set her cup of tea down, leaned back in the sofa and put her hands together. "Look, you're right that we don't have many options, but I simply cannot let you put your life at risk. Me losing Wybourne would be one thing, but if you go through that door and never return, the grief your parents would experience would be just as great. I could never live with myself knowing I had helped in that."

Coraline was at first silent but then said, looking from her hands to Wybie's grandmother. "I understand, Mrs. Lovat. But if I never see Wybie again because I didn't at least try to go get him back, I wouldn't be able to live with myself either." She held out her had almost pleadingly and finished, "I've been in her world a number of times. I know how it all works there. So I'm begging you, Mrs. L, lease, give me the key so I can at least try to rescue him."

There was a long pause and Grandma Lovat looked down at the small black key in her hand for a moment. At last, she sighed, "The Lord will damn me later for this, I'm sure..." She held out her hand and dropped the key in the blue haired girl's hand.

"Thank you, Mrs. L." Coraline nodded, taking the key gratefully and putting it over her own neck. "I promise you I'll use every inch of my being to bring Wybie back. You can count on that for sure."

"I know you will, Coraline." She smiled down at the girl but then frowned a bit at remembering something the jeopardized Coraline's mission before it began. "But one problem...your parents are going to know you are missing. How are you going to sort that little issue out?"

Coraline looked down and tapped her chin as she thought it over. Her parents were consistently busy with their work but they would know if their daughter was missing. It was not as if they were able to stay awake and work with great precision for 24/7. She had to figure out some way to make it that they would not know she was gone for some time. But how?

* * *

"Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad! I'm home!" Coraline beckoned her parents as walked through the backdoor and hung her raincoat and German navy cap up on the coat peg. When she looked forward, Coraline was surprised to see that her mother was not at her common workplace in front of the kitchen table. "Huh?"

Coraline looked around and went out of the kitchen and into the ground floor corridor of the house. "Mom? Dad? Helloooooooooooo?" She called her parents again.

_Thump! Thump!_

The blue haired girl looked at the staircase to see her father struggling to carry a few suitcases down the steps. "Uh...hi there, Coraline. Watch out."

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Well, Coraline, right after you left we got a phone call from your mother and I's boss, Mr. Green." Charlie explained, lifting the suitcases up with both his arms and carrying them down the staircase, through the corridor and into the living room. "He wants us to fly over to New York to have a meeting with him and the other employees in these catalogues and magazines."

Coraline gasped in excitement at hearing the name of the city. "New York?! The big city?! New York, New York?!"

"That's right."

"Cool! I've always wanted to see New York! They've got great stores, fantastic theatres, a-and--"

Her mother's voice came from upstairs as she started to make her way down the staircase, carrying a few bags, "Well, you keep on imagining that, Coraline 'cause we're not taking you with us."

Coraline was so shocked her mouth dropped and arms dangled helplessly from her shoulders. "W-w-what?! You're not taking me?! But why not?! You know I'll behave!"

"Well, come on, Coraline, it's not like it's a leisure trip. It's strictly for business only." Charlie explained from the living room, checking through his luggage to see if he had everything necessary for his trip.

"But seeing New York isn't something you could just do any day." Coraline whined, folding her arms and pouting. "I might not get the chance to see it until I'm like what...thirty!"

Mel passed her by, carrying her bags tiredly, "Trust me, Coraline, you won't be missing out on much."

"Fine..." Coraline followed after her mother into living room with a sulk and she moodily collapsed onto the sofa. As she watched her parents sort out their packing, Coraline asked them bored, "So if I can't go with you, who's gonna look after me while you're gone?"

"Well..." Both Charlie and Mel looked stumped on that subject. Charlie scratched his unshaven chin while he said, "We're still going over that. I mean there's Mr. Bobinsky upstairs." He pointed upwards in indication the tall Russian's apartment.

Mel responded to this was a loud firm, "No!" It was well known that she was not a particularly fan of the giant blue Russian gymnast.

"Um, there's Miss Spink and Miss Forcible." Charlie offered, motioning downward in indication to the former actresses' downstairs accommodation.

"Unfortunately, they're going to England for a week. Not sure why; I wasn't really listening."

Charlie was now running out of candidates. "Well, the only other person we really know around here is Mrs. Lovat."

At hearing Mrs. Lovat's name being suggested; Coraline silently gasped and then sat right up on the sofa. "Hey, that sounds like a great idea. What do you think, Mom?"

"I don't know." Mel said unsurely, zipping after one luggage bag. "I mean, normally I'd think of it as a good idea. But Wybie's still no where to be seen." She looked at Coraline and asked her, "Coraline, you went and saw here just now. Does she sound like she would be up to it?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Coraline said, nodding enthusiastically. "I can keep her company as well, at least until Wybie shows his ugly head again."

Mel turned and walked out the living room, saying as she did, "Well, I suppose I'll go give her a call then."

Coraline smirked to herself, knowing now that the one obstacle standing between her and that little door in the corner had been removed. She tilted her head upward and saw a familiar feline standing up on the outside window sill. Cat gave her a wink. She winked back.

* * *

**(A/N) And I will end it off there. To be honest, the original version of this chapter was considerably longer yet also nitpicky so I summarised some bits. Well, anyway, now it looks like Coraline is all set to go back to the other world and try to rescue her friend. A new adventure is about to begin for Miss Coraline Jones, so until next time, please do Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter Four

**(A/N) Hello, I am back with the fourth chapter to my story. Here, now with her parents going off to New York, Coraline must use the time she now has to go through the door and into the other world once again to rescue Wybie. I am sure you will enjoy it. Please do read on. **

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* * *

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Four**

"Alright, Coraline, we'll be home in five days, so we'll see you on Saturday morning." Mel said to the blue haired girl, kneeling down to her level. She, Coraline, Charlie and Mrs. Lovat were standing in the latter's home. Today, Mel and her husband were heading off to New York, leaving their daughter in the temporary care of their landlady whom was willing to oblige.

"Okay, Mom." Coraline said dully, crossing her arms and looking down at the floor.

"Thanks again, Mrs. Lovat." Charlie thanked his landlady again for taking his daughter into her care. "We really appreciate it."

"It's no problem, Mr. Jones." Mrs. Lovat nodded, waving her hand in midair slightly. "I understand that this is a matter of short notice."

Mel looked down at wrist watch and said to Charlie, picking up one of their bags of luggage, "Well, we better get going, Charlie. Our plane is leaving in an hour."

"Sure." Charlie picked up his two suitcases and he and his wife made their way over to the front door of Mrs. Lovat's house. "Well, we'll see you in five days, Coraline and Mrs. L." He then added to Mrs. Lovat kind of solemnly, "Oh and uh...I really hope your grandson Wybie turns up soon. I hope he's okay."

"Don't worry; I've alerted the local police, Mr. Jones." Mrs. Lovat reassured him, motioning towards to the nearby telephone. "They will find him, I'm sure."

"See ya later, Dad." Coraline rolled her eyes and put her hands in her pockets. She was wearing a plain attire of a dark purple striped jumper and blue jeans.

Mel walked out the front door and went to get in the family car, followed behind by her husband. Charlie looked back at Coraline and Mrs. Lovat, saying to them before he closed the door, "Bye, Coraline. You be good now."

"I will, Dad."

After Charlie closed the front door, Coraline stopped for a moment to hear her parent's car's engine start up. She strolled over to the window just in time to see the family Volkswagen drive off out of sight.

The blue haired girl smirked and rubbed her hands together, "Perfect..." Her parents were now out of the way and she had five days until they got back.

Mrs. Lovat hobbled up close behind Coraline, asking the girl as she looked out the window alongside her, "So...when will you be leaving on your little...you know?"

"Tonight." Coraline answered her seriously, putting her elbows on the window sill and putting her hands together. "But first, I'll need to stop off at my apartment to pick up a few supplies. I'm gonna need them for what I'm about to do."

Coraline then felt something rubbing up and vibrating against her leg. She looked down and saw a mangy feline friend of hers, staring up at her with his big blue eyes. The girl smiled and reached down to pick Cat up in her arms, telling him cooingly and stroking his head, "I don't know _how _you keep getting in and out of places, Cat. Heh, you're like our own little Cheshire cat."

"He's always does keep popping in and out of nowhere." Mrs. Lovat remarked, shifting over to the plastic covered sofa and sat down on the far end. "Wybourne came across him when he was six. Who _knows _how old the mangy thing is?" She turned to an old phonograph and switched on some old 1920's music.

"I hope I can count on you, Cat." Coraline smiled warmly at the black cat, carrying him over to the plastic covered armchair. "I can't do all this alone. I'll need whatever help I can get." The Cat just purred into Coraline's arm in response, making her nuzzle her cheeks against his head. "Good boy."

* * *

That night came quickly for Ashland, Oregon. The moon was positioned high in the sky and the few wisps of grey cloud were upstaged by the hundreds of shining stars. The fallen leaves blew around gently in the breeze and the sign on the post that read 'Pink Palace apartments' creaked back and forth slightly on its hinges.

* * *

Inside the Jones' apartment, the door of Coraline's bedroom opened up slowly and with a long low _crreeeaaak, _allowing the light of the hallway to shine in.

Coraline Jones stepped into her bedroom, looking inward to see if there was by any chance someone there. Once she was for certain the coast was clear, the blue haired girl flicked on the bedroom's overhead lamp and looked around her drab grey painted room.

Our young heroine had just washed herself off in the shower and was now dressed up in more fresh clothing. Specifically, she was wearing a pink stripped long-sleeved shirt, a dark grey jacket with a small collar with a pink skirt, a black wristwatch, green tights and reddish-pink sneakers. The time was 8:26 PM and now Coraline was to begin her rescue mission. Mrs. Lovat was downstairs in the living room, waiting for the girl to come back down with the supplies she was taking with her for her sojourn to the other world

Coraline went to her toy trunk, opened it up and began rummaging through it. She first picked out her brown bag and put the handle over her shoulder and then took out a flashlight, short rope and hook. The girl shoved these items into her brown bag and looked back into the trunk once again for more items to take with her. She found something that might prove much useful to her in the future if required; her Swiss Army Knife complete with knife and other tools built into it. Coraline got it for her ninth birthday as a present from her father and was by far her favourite.

"Yeah, this'll do just fine..." Coraline flicked out the sharp knife, allowing the glow of her bedroom light to glint off the metal surface. She pushed the knife back inside and tucked the small gadget into her jacket's pocket

Coraline gathered her last few supplies, shoved them into her bag, stood up onto her feet and closed the trunk's lid. She walked to her beside cabinet, picked up her German navy cap and placed it on top of her head. Next, the girl opened the drawer of the cabinet and took out something that was important to her: a silver pendant in the shape of the holy cross with a flame shape next to it. Coraline's family were part of the United Methodist Church and she received this special pendant from her aunt when she was only five. It was also kind of a good luck charm to her. She stared at it for a moment before she hung it around her neck and tucked it underneath her jacket.

_'One last thing...'_ Coraline thought to herself, adjusting the handle of his brown bag and looking around her room to check if things were just as they were before she came inside. _'If Mom finds out though, it'll be my head...'_

Taking one last look at her bedroom, Coraline flicked the light switch off and closed the door behind her as she walked out.

* * *

Coraline marched into her parents' room, switched on the lights and stopped for a moment to think. Where was it? Once she remembered, the girl snapped her fingers and trekked across the room to her mother's black painted dressing table. She looked at her reflection and took the time to straighten out her navy cap.

Our blue haired heroine reached out and placed her hands on a white circle on the top of the table. She turned it around anticlockwise, pushed it down and pushed it the left direction.

Inside the dressing table, a gift from her grandmother to her daughter was a small secret compartment. There was not much inside it but a small silk cushion comprising of the same colours of the German flag and on top of it...a gun. A 1917 Imperial German Navy Luger P08 pistol to be exact. Coraline took the well polished Luger out of the compartment a handled it with care. Now this was a family heirloom from her mother's side of the family indeed. This gun as well as the hat she wore had belonged to her great-great-grandfather and had passed down from generation to generation. Now it was time for her to bare the family Luger as well.

After she snatched a brass tin full of bullets, Coraline shoved it and the Luger into her brown bag and shut the dressing table compartment. She switched the lights off and stroked her brown bag as she walked out the bedroom, closing the door silently behind her.

* * *

Downstairs in the living room, Mrs. Lovat jumped slightly in her seat as she heard Coraline march down the staircase. Cat was curled on the old lady's lap and leaped off onto the floor upon seeing Coraline appearing inside the living room.

"So are you ready?" Wybie's grandmother asked, pulling herself up off the sofa.

"Yeah, I'm ready, Mrs. L." Coraline nodded, going over to the little door situated innocently into the bare wall and getting down on all fours next to it.

"Alright, then." Mrs. Lovat took the small black key on the tether out of her pocket and walking over to the little door alongside cat.

Once they were all gathered around the little door, Mrs. Lovat got down on one foot next to it and cautiously inserted the key into the door's lock. She looked from Cat to Coraline before slowly turning the key clockwise.

_Click._

Coraline felt a chill stream down her spine and she shuddered violently, her grip on the floor tightening. Cat cuddled up to her and she held onto him hard.

Mrs. Lovat now grasped the black key and pulled it inwards like a door handle, opening up the little door. A freezing cold breeze blew out the opening door, making the three shield their eyes. Coraline brushed down her blowing blue hair and gulped at looking down into the open door.

There was a long illuminated magenta and blue patterned tunnel inside the door reaching out for miles. It was very much familiar to Coraline now.

The blue haired girl looked down at her wristwatch and pressed a few buttons on it. It beeped and Coraline said to Wybie's grandmother, "I've synchronized my watch for Saturday."

"You have got five days, Coraline." Mrs. Lovat told her sternly, squinting her eyes at the glow being given off by the tunnel and motioning inside it. "Do you think you can pull this rescue mission off within that time?"

"Five days? Shouldn't be too hard." Coraline shrugged her shoulders a bit. She turned to Cat and stroked his head, saying to him as she held him close in her arms, "Let's go, Cat. We've got a hunchback to rescue."

"Good luck, Coraline." Mrs. Lovat told her, taking the key out the lock and giving it to the girl. "But while you're in there, I want you to do just one thing for me." She got back up and stepped away from the door.

Coraline looked back at her, pocketing the small black key. "What's that?"

Mrs. Lovat pounded her fist into her own palm, saying with a serious look, "The moment you get the chance, punch that evil bitch in the face."

The girl nodded seriously in response and tipped her navy cap. She and Cat looked down into the long circular tunnel and after taking a deep inhale and exhale, Coraline Jones and her feline friend crawled inside. The inside of the magenta and blue patterned tunnel felt so soft and smooth...like the finest silk.

_Slam._

_

* * *

_

The door shut hard behind them, making the girl and cat look back uneasily. There was no turning back now. Coraline felt her heart thump hard and fast as she and Cat crawled down the vivid tunnel with great precaution. She and Cat knew what their mission was; go into the other world _hopefully _undetected, find her friend Wybie and leave with him back home.

"Well...I hope you are prepared to face her once again, Coraline."

Coraline stopped and lowered her head down at Cat, saying to him tiredly as she got down on her back against the soft tunnel, "To be honest, Cat, I really just don't know. I promised myself I would have nothing to do with all this again after the last time."

"We all promise ourselves things, my dear." Cat responded, sitting up straight on the tunnel's soft surface. "But we don't always keep to them."

"Yeah, but...oh, you just don't understand!" Coraline crossed her arms over her stomach grumpily. "This lady, no wait, this monster's got almost godlike powers. If you remember correctly, I only beat her last time out of luck.

Cat rolled his eyes and said with a grumpy look of his own, "Oh, really? From the way I remembered it, you tossed me straight at the witch's face."

Coraline groaned, getting back on all fours, "Hey, I already apologized for that, remember?" She bit her lip and then sighed heavily, shaking her head tiredly. "Oh, what's the point of fighting it? I guess there are some things in life you just can't avoid."

"True...true..." Cat said slowly, nodding his head a few times.

"Shall we...?" Coraline nudged her head forward, indicating for her and Cat to proceed. Cat nodded one more time and the two friends continued their short journey down the tunnel.

They soon found themselves reaching the end of the tunnel where they saw another small door, similar to the one they entered. Coraline reached into her jacket and took out the small black key. She idled it a bit it before casting a cool look at Cat. "Well, here we go..."

"Here we go, indeed." Cat placed his paw on Coraline's skirt and told her sternly but unsurely, "Um, Coraline, before we do this, there is something you must know."

"What's that?"

Cat looked forward broodingly. "She has a little _backup _this time."

"Backup?"

"You'll see. But I think it's best I let you know that...she doesn't plan on sewing any buttons onto any eyes."

Coraline gulped, sweat forming on her brow. "Oh...thanks for letting me know...I guess." She hesitated but still inserted the key into the lock. "Here I come you bitch..." The girl hissed, referring to a certain evil hag.

_Click._

_

* * *

_

On the other side, the door swung open and Coraline Jones crawled out of the tunnel through the door. She stood up and stared in shock at what was supposed to be a resemblance to her own living room. "Oh my God..."

The other world's living room looked far from her own than the last time she was here. It looked cold, gritty and distorted beyond one's imagination. The colour scheme contrasted off all those colours one would not dream of having in their own house; neon green, chalky black, purple and orange blended together, etc. By taking just one look at this place, a person would deduct this place as either a cheap rundown funhouse or an insane asylum from the point of view of one of its patients.

Coraline took a few steps forward and looked around the room, gaping in horror at the twisted sight. She whispered quietly out the edge of her mouth to Cat, _"Okay, Cat, let's do this..."_ No response. _"Cat?_ Cat?" She looked down at saw that Cat was no longer there. In fact, he was no where to be seen in the 'living room'. Coraline groaned to herself, "Where the Hell does he keep going? Oh, well..."

Our blue haired heroine looked around the room with caution, taking a look around at the obscurities with both wonder and disgust. The picture of the small boy and the ice-cream had been replaced by that of a slaughtered reptile beast. All the furniture resembled bugs, thus earning it's nickname from Coraline as the 'Bug Room'. However, all this 'bug' furniture appeared more beastly to fit into the colour scheme of the room; as if each one was about to launch out and bite her head off.

A small light lit. Footsteps then creaked against the floorboards.

Coraline jumped at the sudden sound that broke the room's chilling silence, searching left and right for any sign of life. That's when Coraline saw the small light and it…or rather…her…

"Who are you?"

She sounded…just like Coraline and…she even looked like her! But there were some very significant differences; this girl was missing an arm, a leg and an eye with a black patch covering the socket. The girl had greyed skin, looked completely dishevelled and she wore a blue and star spangled sweater. What really made her stand out was that in place of her other eye...was a black button.

They almost looked like twins.

Coraline did not say a word; she was so stricken by shock and horror that she just froze in place. The look-alike leaned against her crutch and held the lantern in her free hand over their hands. She started to approach the blue haired girl, but the latter let out a loud scream of terror and bolted off in the other direction.

But Coraline did not get far as she accidentally knocked into the back of a purple armchair that seemed to resemble a 'roly poly' bug. She fell down on her back on the floor and looked up to see the chair swirl around. Coraline's gasped at whom was sitting in it.

It was another look-alike. She looked like the genuine article, except she was much thinner; making the blue and star covered sweater she was wearing cling to her body. In place of her eyes were black buttons and even without them the girl's expression could not be identified as anything. Someone could have easily mistaken her as a dummy in a museum.

The 'Coraline' was right in the middle of reading a thick book and raised her head to look at the genuine article. She spoke to her in a flat emotionless voice, "You really should watch where you step. You might really hurt yourself if you are not careful."

Coraline gaped at the girl and clambered up onto her feet. She panted frantically, looking back and forth at these two...clones before ran out the bug room through the nearest door.

Now alone, the crippled dishevelled Coraline looked at the emotionless one, asking her with a perplexed look, "Was it something one of us said?" The blank Coraline shrugged and continued on with her reading.

* * *

After crashing into the dank gothic hallway, Coraline ran into the closest room possible. She put her back against the wall and peeked through the bare door frame to see if the two look-alikes were following her. They were not. Coraline deducted from first sight that this was the dining room with of course the psychotic twist.

_Munch. Munch._

To Coraline, it sounded like wild animals gorging on a slain prey. She turned around to face the source of the noise and saw that it was a girl. Another look-alike...of her. Only this time, Coraline was so repulsed that she looked as if she would puke.

This new 'Coraline' was sat at the far end of the long dining table, the latter covered with delicious yet grotesquely fattening food. She was...fat. Actually 'fat' would be a major understatement. Her stomach, arms and legs were so stuffed they looked like they could explode with grease and fat at any moment. The blue and star patterned sweater that was crammed over her top half was so stretched out it appeared on the verge of splitting. Her black button eyes glinted under the light of the overhead lamp.

"Sweet mother of..." Coraline put her hand to her mouth sickened at seeing her double stuff chicken and roast potatoes (both swamped in gravy) into her own.

The obese 'Coraline' lifted her head and cast a glare over at the original, her mouth still full, "What are you staring at?"

"..." Coraline only whimpered, taking a few steps back.

"Oh, you're looking for Caroline, right?" The big fat brat jabbed her thick thumb at the open doorway behind her, leading into the greyed kitchen. "She's in the kitchen probably helping mother. Stupid Momma's girl..."

Coraline took in a deep breath but edged her way around the long dining table and eventually her piggish facsimile. Before walking through the doorway, Coraline took one last look at the girl sitting in the chair, whom then forked a chicken ball and munched on it.

* * *

Now inside the kitchen, Coraline looked around the steam clouded the air and narrowed her eyes. It was heard to see anything through the steam being emitted from the frying pans on the stove.

"Hello?" The girl shielded her eyes from the steam and coughed slightly. But she could not deny that whatever was being cooked sure smelt good. "Is anyone in here?"

"Hello." A voice responded through the steam. It came from a silhouetted girl standing in front of the stove, who was moving the frying pans slightly. With a flick of her hand, the steam cleared up slightly, allowing Coraline to see what she looked like.

This time, when Coraline could fully see what this girl looked like, she did not react in horror. She just stood there amazed. This girl in front of the stove was yet another look-alike of Coraline, yet this one did not look in anyway horrific to the girl. Granted Coraline should not have reacted in such a way to the emotionless Coraline, but that was out of the spur of the moment.

The 'Coraline' our blue haired heroine saw before her actually looked very beautiful. She looked just like the genuine with the exception of the black button eyes and some significant differences that made her look more attractive. Unlike Coraline's blue hair, this facsimile's was shining black and much more styled. Whilst Coraline had a few minor freckles on her face, this double had none and her skin in general was well brighter and well-toned. Her frame was slender, curvy and defined in all ways possible. As of the moment, she was wearing a silk black dress with white polka-dots.

At long last, this new 'Coraline' spoke up in a sickly sweet tone, "It's nice to meet you, Coraline."

Coraline said nothing and instead bit her lip and eyed the identical girl oddly.

"My name's Caroline." The girl motioned to herself and smiled as she turned back to the stove. "I guess you've met my sisters, the _other _Coralines, right? Of course you have." She turned the dial on the stove and added cheerfully, "Oh, mother will be so glad to see you again. We've been expecting you, Coraline."

"M-m-mother?" At hearing that word, Coraline was prepared to make a run for it. She turned around to bolt out the doorway where she was met by a five tall figure.

"Welcome back, Coraline." The button-eyed Beldam smiled alluringly, standing before the girl and casting a shadow over her. She once again maintained her completely beautified version of her original, tired, and stressed mother. "You're just in time for supper."

"Eep..." Coraline's eye twitched, feeling Beldam place her soft thin hand onto her shoulder.

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**(A/N) And I shall end the chapter right there. Now Coraline has fully returned to the other world, her mission to retrieve her friend Wybie has officially begun. But what does the Beldam now want with the girl? That shall be revealed in the next chapter during...dinner time. Until next time, please do Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter Five

**(A/N) Hello, I am back with the fifth chapter to my story. In this one, the Beldam now has Coraline ensnared in her trap. What is she and her little 'daughters' planning to do with her? And what about our good friend Wybie? That shall all be revealed in the following. I am sure you will enjoy it. Please do read on. **

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Five**

Coraline had rarely ever been truly afraid in her lifetime. When she climbed up the enormous spider web to escape the clutches of a spider-like Beldam, Coraline felt truly scared, yet she continued on. It was really when she was in a position where she knew she had absolutely no control...she felt useless.

That was exactly how Coraline Jones felt right now. She sat down timidly in the other world's dining room, observing her gothic surroundings. Her German navy cap and bag had been taken by the physically handicapped Other Coraline into the 'Bug Room' for 'safe keeping'. When Coraline first entered the other world, the dining room looked warm, comforting and exquisite. Now the room looked like something from one of those haunted mansions in early 1900's horror movies with a splash of hideous paint.

But despite the hideous setting of the room, the food aligned on the dining table looked deliciously mouth-watering. Although Coraline did not like her in the slightest, she could not deny that the Beldam's cooking skills were second to none.

Coraline was sat down at the far end of the table, her back facing the wall. Sat on the tables' side to Coraline's left were the crippled Other Coraline and Caroline respectively. To Coraline's left were the emotionless and obese Other Coralines respectively. Finally, on the opposite far end of the dining table was the Beldam herself, smiling perkily and putting her fingertips together.

Taking her silver knife and fork, Coraline prodded the plate of mash potatoes and chicken slowly and gently. Her counterparts were eating normally, with the massively overweight Other Coraline practically shovelling her food into her mouth. Even if she actually had a shovel, her eating pace would not be fast enough for her. What would really make one sick was how this little pig could still be eating after having an enormous pre-dinner snack.

"Are you enjoying you're dinner, Coraline?" The Beldam asked sweetly, picking up a tall wine glass with her left hand and drinking the said alcoholic crimson beverage. "It's been a few months, but I still know your favourite food off by heart."

"It's fine." Coraline grumbled, looking down at her food and placing a tiny bit of gravy-soaked mash potato into her mouth. "Thank you..." She could not let the Beldam see how unnerved she really was. The hag knew how to twist with people who showed their weaknesses.

However, there was one person sitting at the table whom could already tell how scared the girl really was. The smartest and most clear minded of them all: the Other Coraline whose facial expression remained constantly bland throughout the whole dinner.

The button-eyed girl watched Coraline eat daintily on a turkey drumstick. "You know, there is no need to eat with such unease and caution whilst in our company." She drummed her fingers against the table. "You must be hungry." Coraline stopped for a moment, then dropped her utensils and took a quick bit into her drumstick greedily.

The crippled-looking Coraline picked up a tall glass full of a bleed red liquid with her one hand and passed it to Coraline. "Yes. Try this; extracted from squashed grapes." Coraline took it without second thought and drank a huge gulp.

Caroline, still smiling perkily, picked an orange out from a wooden bowl and set it down on the table. "And the oranges?" She sent in rolling down the table until Coraline caught it in her own hand. "Have one of those next."

Holding the bright round orange up and giving it a suspicious glare, Coraline asked her 'hosts' dryly, "All this food is poisoned, isn't it?"

The big fat Coraline duplicate laughed softly and bit hard into a piece of apple pie as if to taste it. "Nope. I don't think so." She concluded after swallowing it down her throat.

"You still looked troubled, Coraline." The blank counterpart stared at her in such a focused way that it could pierce right into Coraline's very soul. "Is something bothering you in anyway?"

"No." Coraline replied, not looking at her in the eye...or buttons rather.

"You are lying." The Other Coraline held a cup of cold water in her hands and put it to her lips. "I can tell. Is it..." She tapped her buttons eyes gently with her index finger. "The buttons. Do they make you feel uncomfortable?"

Coraline raised an eyebrow and set her knife and fork down. "To be honest, yes. I know I should be used to it by now but..." She shrugged uneasily, tilting her head the other way.

"Ah, then allows us to remedy that situation." The blank Other Coraline gave her sisters a nod and they all understood. All four of them sat up straight in their chairs. At first, nothing happened, but then Coraline saw her counterparts' button eyes starting to shrink. Soon the buttons shrunk down to the size of eye pupils after a few hard blinks, the Other Coralines' button eyes had disappeared. Their eye sockets were now filled with what looked like actual eyes.

"Is this better?" Caroline asked, motioning her pretty shining eyes.

Coraline nodded and picked her fork up again, looking amazed at what she just saw these identical girls do. "Yes...thank you. Nice little trick you got going there."

The Beldam ran the tip of her long thin finger along the edge of her wine glass, causing it to give off a faint ringing sound. "Yes, it was really Coraline Three that figured it out. She's a really intelligent girl."

Coraline narrowed her eyed and asked the witch in makeup, "Coraline _Three?"_

"Just a little nickname in case they don't know who I'm talking to, though that rarely happens..." Beldam shrugged innocently and gestured to the Other Coralines; the crippled one, the fat one and the emotionless one respectively. "One, two and three."

"And I see you've done a _terrific _job creating them." Our blue haired heroine remarked sarcastically, looking around at her counterparts starting from the crippled Other Coraline 1 to beautiful Caroline. She then added kind of snobbishly, "I'll admit, after four attempts you actually ended up with a decent _knock-off."_

Although Caroline still maintained a toothy smile, her hands underneath the table balled up tightly into fits. The Beldam put her hand on her daughter's fists, smiling through her teeth as well.

Beldam puckered her ruby red lips a couple of times and giggled in a fake manner, "You have such a sense of humour, Coraline." She forked a square cut piece of fork and ate it before she continued kind of sadly through her smile, "It's hard to understand what happened between you and me. Coraline, we could have had such a perfect life together. Just mother and daughter."

"Well, to be honest, you were actually doing pretty well in alluring me." Coraline scoffed, taking a tall glass of mango milkshake in her hand and sipping it. "That was until you brought up the topic of sewing buttons in my eyes." She set the glass down and folded her arms pouting. "I mean, come on, how did you think I was going to react to that, lady?"

"True..." The Beldam shrugged carelessly. "Perhaps I should've anticipated that. My bad." She raised her right arm and showed Coraline the stump on her wrist where her right hand you used to be. Seeing Coraline's expression, the witch asked plainly, "Oh, have you forgotten already? You took a piece of me with you when you left."

Coraline clicked her tongue a few times, still staring at the stump with a slight mortified look. "Must of slipped my mind..." She shook it off and decided to get down to business, remembering her primary objective, "Look, the reason I came back here is because I know you've kidnapped my friend, Wybie. I want him back."

"Wybie? Hmm, Wybie..." Beldam put her hand and stump together and put on a false look of deep thought. "About, this tall..." She held her left hand up to roughly Wybie's height and then made twirling motions with her finger over her head. "Brown curly hair?"

"You know who Wybie is." Coraline said firmly, her eyes narrowing down to slits. "Why did you take him? What, was it part of some plan to get me?"

Other Coraline 2 for once put down her knife and fork and told Coraline arrogantly, "Hey, we weren't trying to get our hands on Wybie at all that night. The one we were trying to get was you."

"Figures." Coraline rolled her eyes.

Other Coraline 1 continued to explain for her sister, "You see, Coraline, the music we played from our world was specified to entrance a child. It was supposed to trick the nearest child into coming to us."

"But some reason or another, it brought us Wybourne Lovat and not you." Other Coraline 3 finished the little explanation. "Where you in anyway incapacitated that night?"

"I was sick and was fast asleep."

"Then that explains it."

Coraline was now getting seriously irritated. She pounded her fist lightly on the table and demanded of the old had at the opposite end of the table, "But what do you want me back for?! Take a look around; you haven't just got one Coraline of your own, you've got _four! _Did you bring me back just to kill me or what?!"

Beldam just smirked and chuckled, waving her hand dismissively at the idea, "Oh, I would _never _want to _kill _you, Coraline. And you're right..." She petted the eating Other Coraline 2 on the head lovingly. "I've got more than my share of Coralines."

"So you don't want me as your daughter and you don't want to kill me." Coraline slouched down in her chair looking cynical. "Well, then I'm confused. Why else did you want me to come back here?"

"We just _need _you for something, dear, that's all." The Beldam put her fingers to her lips and let out a whistle. Seconds later, a massive pewter cauldron with clawed legs slowly hobbled into the dining room. "Ah, here it is..."

"What's that?"

Beldam stood up from her chair and walked around the table and followed the small cauldron up to Coraline's seat. "This is just something I wrote down on paper a few hundred years ago." The cauldron lifted off the ground and landed gently on top of the table as Beldam pushed Coraline's plate away.

The blue haired girl looked over the rim of the cauldron to see its contents. However, she was only able to get a very brief look at it as the pink or better yet very bright purple light stung her eyes. "Aggh!"

"Be careful," The Beldam warned the girl, tapping her of the end of her pointy nose before walking back to her own seat. "I only just started brewing it a few days ago. It takes a while to dull down."

"Okay, now you're really losing me." Coraline said, watching the cauldron waddle across the table until it reached the table's centre. It gave out the same pink/bright purple glow as she had seen upon looking over the metal rim.

"It's quite simple, Coraline. You see my...sort have always had a thing for potion making." Beldam stroked her fingers through Caroline's black shining hair softly and sat back down in her chair. "This little batch here is something of my own creation."

"You must be proud." Coraline sneered at Beldam and the cauldron before her.

Beldam nodded, resting her chin on the bony fingers of her left hand, "I am. You see, this little 'concoction' serves a great purpose. It is what you might call an..._absorber_. It allows someone to consume the very essence of another person."

Coraline forced herself to laugh at that. "Oh, my good God, you're screwing around with me, right?! If you expect me to believe that then--"

The Other Coraline 1 cut her off firmly, keeping her eyes on her fork and watching the overhead lamp's light reflect off its metal surface, "Hey, if you can believe in a supernatural being feeding of children's souls, I really think you can believe in this."

Coraline went silent but still glared at her counterpart. She could not deny she made a very good point. If there was such s thing as an evil witch whom could create a whole magical world for her, then who was to say there were potions with countless abilities.

"Thank you, dear. Now Coraline, about this little potion; I know it sounds a bit crazy, what with the whole absorbing part." Beldam snapped her fingers and a long wooden spoon lifted up from under the table and started swirling around the vividly coloured contents of the cauldron. "But it's really not that complicated once you get your head around it. You see, with the right 'ingredients', you can drink from this potion and literally drink the soul and essence out of the victim of your choice."

"So it's some kind of voodoo?"

"I wouldn't exactly say 'voodoo'. That's a bit out of my category." The long wooden spoon lifted out of the cauldron and flew back into the Beldam's left hand. The end of it was covered in the thick purple goo. Obviously, being separated from the main batch caused its glow to die down.

Coraline eyed the goo on the spoon with an arched eyebrow and quizzed, "But why did you make this?"

"I only want what's best for my little daughter, Caroline." Beldam put her left index finger under Caroline's chin and flicked it upwards gently. "If I can make just one of my girl's perfect by giving her this potion, then I'll be content with what I have."

Sweat now began pouring down Coraline's forehead. _**"You want to absorb my soul?!" **_She practically screamed, her eyes going pale and her lips quivering. _**"You people are insane!!"**_

"Oh, dear, don't worry, it won't be so bad. It won't hurt all. Think of it has going for a cosy permanent nap..." Beldam got up on her feet again and stood behind Caroline's chair, putting her hand on her 'daughter's' shoulder. "We already have most of the ingredients already. We just need some of you to complete the potion and that's it. Say..."

The Beldam vanished for a split second and reappeared right behind the Other Coraline 2's chair. She reached out her hand and patted her girl on her large soft stomach. _"...a few warm soft pounds of your flesh!"_

_"You said you weren't going to kill me."_

"That's right..." Beldam raised her head and grinned at her. _"...yet."_

Coraline's jaw dropped in horror and the Other Coraline 3 handed her the same bright round orange. "Orange, dear Coraline?"

_**"Aaaaggghhh!!!" **_Acting out of fear and shock, Coraline jumped out of her seat, causing it to fall backwards. Without taking a look back, our blue haired heroine spun on her heels and ran at full speed out of the dining room.

Beldam sighed exasperatedly at seeing the girl run off, "Well, I should have seen that coming." She scowled darkly and pointed at the doorway in which Coraline just left the room. _"Get here!" _

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In the hallway, Coraline skidded across the floor and crashed into the wall hard. She stood back up and ran into the 'Bug Room', heading back in the direction of the little door. The girl had to get out of this place or risk being cut up into separate chunks of flesh!

"Come on, come on, come on..." Coraline searched through her pockets and soon found the door's key. "Got it." She held it and out and was only a few feet away from the door when...

_Fwoosh!_

Black smoke accumulated quickly between Coraline and the door, making the girl screech to a halt. Caroline and Other Coraline 2 appeared before her out of the smoke, blocking the girl's only real escape.

"You're not going anywhere." Caroline said sternly, putting her hands behind her back.

"Get the Hell away from me, you freaks!" Coraline turned around and ran out of the bug room, not looking back to see if her two counterparts were following behind her.

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Back in the hallway, Coraline looked ahead and saw the front door of the house. If she could just get outside, she could wait and hide from the Beldam and her daughters.

_Fwoosh!_

Black smoke accumulated between Coraline and the front door and this time Other Coraline 3 appeared. She stood there tall and straight with the same blank look as always.

Other Coraline 3 approached the genuine article with a stretched out hand. Coraline, panicking and acting out of instinct, put her key away and pulled out something else instead; her Swiss Army knife.

"Stay back or I'll...I'll..." Coraline flipped open the knife of her little tool and held it up to Other Coraline 3 threateningly. When she saw that her counterpart was still advancing upon her, Coraline shut her eyes, pulled back the knife and screamed, _**"Gaaaggghhh!!!"**_

_Stab!_

Coraline recoiled and covered her mouth with her hands at what she had just done. She had just driven her Swiss knife into someone's chest!! Yet Other Coraline 3 just stood there stiff as a board and as if nothing had happened. The knife was there - rammed deep into her chest yet she did not topple over dead.

Other Coraline 3 looked down at the knife jammed into her chest with curiosity. She took the tool by its handle and yanked it out. The emotionless girl raised it up to her view. The knife's blade was covered in black shining blood and sand.

"I am...curious." Other Coraline 3 looked from the black blooded knife' to Coraline. "Once you kill me, what is it that you plan on doing next?"

Coraline shut her eyes and rampaged forward, screaming as she knocked Other Coraline 3 down and burst out the front door. She did not before slamming it behind her.

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Outside, Coraline ran down the steps of the veranda and looked around. "Oh, God...Oh, God...Oh, God!!" The poor child had nowhere she could go. The Beldam and her daughters - if they could be called her 'daughters' - had cut her off at the door and she knew simply running was no good. Where could she possibly run off to? The other world was physically limited.

When she stopped hyperventilating, Coraline took the time to notice what had now become of the once beautiful garden there used to be in this world. It looked like a cliché haunted forest you would see in classic horror movies. The trees gave the impression that they were alive and were watching the girl's every movement. The plants were much larger than Coraline remembered them and looked even carnivorous by the way they were snapping at each other. Up in the sky, clouds gathered in a swirling pattern with the full but half button shrouded moon position in the centre.

_'I've gotta hide somewhere.'_ Coraline thought to herself and for the nearest tree, skipping over the snapping flowers. Once she got to the old withered tree, Coraline hid behind it and remained silent. All she had to do was wait until either the Beldam passed her by and then make a mad dash into the house so she could go through the door.

But there was just one problem with her plan; Wybie. Rescuing him was the very reason she came back to this awful place, yet she had not managed to find out where the Beldam was keeping him. She promised to bring him back so she could not just leave. There had to be someway she could find him but dodge the witch as well.

"Maybe I could...if I just, uh..." Coraline tapped her fingers against her lips. "Uh..."

_**KA-CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

The ground and soil underneath the nearest bed of flowers exploded, sending violent tremors across the garden and knocking Coraline off her feet. Our heroine collapsed against the base of the tree and looked up terror-stricken at the creature she saw before her.

It was a millipede. A ten story tall and grey coloured millipede with black polka dot patterns to be exact. It had a giant yellowish green eye and a massive set of sharp twisted teeth. It looked down on a stunned Coraline as if she were a mere micro-organism.

Riding on top of the millipede's head was a familiar-looking girl with a few missing limbs. She held onto a pair of reins attached around the millipede's jaw and gave them a yank to make the insect's head pull back. It was the Other Coraline 1.

_**"Peek-a-boo! I see you!" **_Other Coraline 1 screamed loudly and then ordered the millipede she was riding, **"GET HER, BO!!!!"**

The millipede launched forward and plummeted down in Coraline's direction, but the girl leaped out the way just in time. The millipede and Other Coraline 1 with it disappeared underneath the ground and Coraline ran off into the garden.

_'Ten story tall millipedes?! What next?!' _Coraline reached an old tree where the vines reached down to her level. _'Perfect!' _She grabbed the first vine she could get her hands on and hoisted upwards. She kept climbing until she reached the tree branch and stood up on top of it.

**"ROOOAAAR!!!" **The bellow of the millipede grew louder and louder until it burst out from right under the ground next to Coraline's tree. It wrapped around the tree in an upward direction until it reached the very top just above Coraline.

Other Coraline 1 leaned over the insect's head and yelled at the genuine article, "You have nowhere to run now!"

In a short surge of bravery, Coraline snapped off a sharp piece of branch and wielded it like a baseball bat. "Come on, you dirty bitch! Come get me!"

The millipede roared and launched its head forward, snapping its jaws repeatedly at Coraline. The girl dodged its attacks left and right a number of times until the beast's sixth attack smashed into the branch, causing Coraline to fall on her back against the bark surface. Seeing the millipede's bright yellowish green eye, Coraline saw her chance.

Picking herself up, Coraline held her piece of branch like a javelin and launched it at the giant glistening eye!

_**"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"**_

Bullseye!

The millipede's head flew about frantically in one of the greatest possible. Its skin rippled and its mouth opened up as wide as it could, allowing its tongue to flicker. Other Coraline 1 desperately tried to tame the wounded beast but no dice.

Coraline felt herself slanted downwards and to her dismay, she discovered that the branch was breaking. The girl climbed off the branch and climbed as fast as she possibly could down one of the vines.

Luckily for Coraline, she had reached close enough to the ground when the branch had fully given away. Therefore, she only dropped a short distance and landed on her backside softly on the soil.

Other Coraline 1 had not been so lucky. Losing her grip on the reins, the child fell off the millipede's head and plummeted backwards with her arms dangling harmlessly in the air. **"Aaaaaaagggggghhhhh!!!"**

When all this was over and she looked back on this moment, Coraline Jones would never be able to deduct why she did what she did next. Call it a moment of humanitarianism or just plain pity, no one would probably ever know but she did it. Coraline Jones leaped out underneath her falling duplicate and caught her in her arms.

The two rolled down across the concrete pathway of the garden. They both covered their ears and eyes as the ten story tall millipede collapsed to the ground, taking down the vine-covered tree with it.

_SMASH!!!_

Once the dust cleared, Coraline and her crippled double raised their heads and looked ahead at the collapsed form of the giant millipede. Its long dirt covered body laid motionless against the ground and a blood could be seen leaking at the corners of its eye. It was dead.

The was a long silence in which the two Coralines stared at the enormous corpse of the monstrous insect. It looked as if one of them was about to make a move when a pair of claws reached out and grabbed Coraline by the neck and mouth.

Coraline tried to scream but she was silenced when her vision and sense of reality began to fade. The last thing she saw was the silhouette of a tall woman standing in front of her. _"Shhhh, dear. Try to sleep. I'll take care of you." _The girl's eyes closed and at last fell asleep in the arms of her captor.

Beldam smiled and stroked Coraline's cheek with the back of her left hand. She looked up at the giant beetle creature holding onto the blue haired girl and instructed it, "Take her inside. I'll be with you shortly."

The beetle creature nodded in understand and left to go back inside the house with Coraline in its arms. Beldam turned around to look at Other Coraline 1 whom was still on her knees staring at the dead millipede sadly. She petted her daughter on the head and told her comfortingly, "Hey, Coraline, sorry about Bo."

Other Coraline 1's eyes watered and her lips trembled. She started whimpering which turned into sobbing which then turned into full blown wailing of sorrow. Her beloved pet was dead.

Beldam kneeled down and put her arm around Other Coraline 1. She hoisted her up and the girl put her one arm around her mother as well. The child still sobbed uncontrollably and the Beldam hushed and coddled her as she took her back into the house.

"It's alright. There, there..." Beldam kissed her child on her forehead and brushed her blue hair. "I'm here. Mommy's here to make it better."

Up above, the button shadow completely eclipsed the full moon, plunging the other world into further darkness.

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**(A/N) And I think I will leave the story off there for the time being. I think that so far this is my favourite chapter since it greatly features the antagonist characters. I will not deny that I am more of a fan of the villain and antagonist than the hero and I do not think I am the only one. Anyway, I am sure all of you reading this are confused as to why Coraline saved Other Coraline 1's life, am I right? Well, I assure you that it is essential for the plot. I cannot reveal it to you right now of course but you will see later on in the story. Until next time, please do Read and leave a Review.**


	7. Chapter Six

**(A/N) Hello, I am back with the sixth chapter to my story. In this one, Coraline finds herself trapped in a familiar place from her last time she was in the other world. There, she finds an old friend of hers. I am sure you will enjoy it. Please do read on. **

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Six**

Coraline recognized the room the Beldam had situated her in. Well, it was actually not a room, but a prison located behind the hallway mirror. It used to be where the Beldam would lock away the souls of the children she took and had grown tired of. But the souls of these children were not so long ago released thanks to the courageous actions of Coraline and were allowed to rest in peace.

Our blue haired heroine was sitting in the dank dark prison inside a small cell in the corner of the room. The thick black bars reached from one wall to one next it, creating small space for Coraline to move about. This probably must have been a late edition to the prison as she did not recognize it from before.

Coraline looked down and tugged on the thick black metal chain that had been attached to her leg. She could only stand up and took a few steps without the chain restricting her.

_Groooowl._

She put her hand on her stomach. She was getting hungry. But how was that possibly? Coraline had only eaten her dinner a couple of hours ago and her hunger had resurfaced? Maybe it was just because of her run-in with the giant millipede. She had been doing a lot of running of recently when looking back on it.

"I need to get out of here..." Coraline got on her knees and put her hands to the bars of her cell. "And get something to eat." It was so quiet in this horrible place. The only things she could hear were faint dripping and the sound of her own voice echoing off against the stone walls. She started hitting her head against the metal bars softly in frustration. "God damn it, what do I do now?! They're gonna chop me up into bits and I still have no freakin' clue where Wybie is."

Coraline put her back to the bars and sat back down miserably. "This whole thing has gone from bad to worse. It's turned into nothing more than one big clusterfu-"

"May I help?"

"Aagghh!" At hearing the sudden voice, the girl nearly shrieked and immediately got up and stared downward.

"Hello, Coraline." Cat said simply, looking at her with his bright blue eyes. "How's the rescue mission been coming along?"

Giving the mangy cat and annoyed scowl, Coraline folded her arms and turned her back on him. She hissed at him angrily, "Well, what do _you _think?"

Cat sat up right and cocked his head to the left. "I am presuming that is has been going badly, then. I have been listening in on them...I know what they are planning to do to you." Cat faced his back to Coraline also, looking at the stone walls of the little prison. "I hope you have another plan up your sleeve."

"I'm working on it." was Coraline's reply, looking down at her feet and kicking her right foot back and forth gently. "Why did you leave when I came out the door anyway?"

"I thought you could handle it by yourself."

Coraline collapsed onto the ground and curled up grumpily. "Well, I couldn't, alright?! I was stupid to think I could take this on! I haven't even found out where the Hell Wybie is. I don't think I'll ever find him at this rate."

"Oh, really?"

Peeking over her shoulder at him, Coraline asked the feline doubtfully, "Yeah, really. Unless you have some idea where he is?"

"Well..." Cat moved his eyes slowly across the prison. "I can tell you this, dear Coraline; if you really need them, you're friends will be closer than you at first think."

"What?" When Coraline turned around she saw that Cat was once again gone. "Oh, son of a--" She did not finish but looked forward into the prison once again. What exactly did Cat mean by 'closer than she at first thought'? "W...Wybie? Wybie are you in here?"

No response.

"Wybie?! Are you there, Wybie?"

Still no response.

Giving up, Coraline collapsed against the bars of her cell and rested her head in her hands. She started whimpering which soon turned into crying. Her sense of hope was now being crushed to oblivion.

_"That you, Jonsey?"_

Coraline raised her head and peaked out the bars. There was only one person she knew who called her by that name. _"Wybie?!" _She could see a dim blue glow emitting from the corner of the large prison. It was taking a square form, almost like the same prison cell as hers.

A boy appeared sitting in the new prison cell on the opposite corner. He was small, hunchbacked and had brown curly hair. The boy was chained up by his leg like Coraline was. It was him.

"Wybie, it _is _you!" Coraline gasped excitedly, recognizing the boy at once.

Wybie brought up his head in the cell and looked across the prison at Coraline. He was playing with a blue rubber ball with a red star on it, bouncing it up and down against the stone floor.

"When did you get here?" Wybie asked casually, still looking at the rubber ball as it repelled against the stone floor and back into his still gloved hand. "I've been here for quite a while now."

"A-a couple of hours." But Coraline knew that did not matter. She had now found her friend at last! "But who cares about that? Wybie, you're alright!"

Wybie however, looked far less excited than his friend was. "Yeah, I'm locked up in a cell in some crazy witch's world. I'm perfectly alright, aren't I?" He spoke sarcastically, taking the rubber ball and tossing it up and down in the air.

"Wybie now is not the time for pessimism! I've found you and now we have to escape!"

"Impossible; I've tried to escape several times before." Wybie stood up in his cell and held the rubber ball in both his hands. "I couldn't pick the lock; I couldn't slip through the bars and I don't see what'd we do if did get out of our cells. There's no door, remember? Face it; there's no way out." The two remained silent for a couple of seconds and Wybie spoke to Coraline again. "And hey, what are you even doing back here, anyway?"

Coraline looked utterly offended and she yelled at him. "Excuse me?! I came here to rescue you, you ingrate!"

"With all due to respect, Jonsey, it technically is your fault I'm here in the first place." Wybie explained plainly, looking the other way. "Those creatures were actually coming after you and got me by mistake. So you've put me in danger."

"Wh-wh-what?!" Coraline looked livid. She stomped her foot hard on the stone floor and screamed, "You unbelievable, ungrateful little bastard! I come into this fucked-up insane asylum to save you and this is the thanks I get?!"

Wybie put his hands up defensively and said slowly to calm her down, "Coraline, I'm not saying I'm ungrateful. I'm just saying I've gone through a lot of shit because you didn't bother destroying that thing the last time."

"You think you've been through shit?! I've risked my life just trying to find you here! I was attacked by a motherfucking giant millipede for fuck's sake!!"

"Look, Jonsey, just calm down--"

"I will not fucking calm down, you little--!"

_"Aww, look at you two; fighting like an old married couple."_

Coraline and Wybie stopped their arguing at once and looked to the front stone wall to see a green light emitting from it. It opened up wider and wider and two figures walked inside. It was the Other Coraline 2 followed closely behind by Other Coraline 3. The former was holding a silver platter with a cover and the latter was holding a brown bag over her shoulder.

Other Coraline 2 went over to Coraline's cell and held the platter over to her. "What's that?" Coraline asked her sceptically, eyeing the covered platter with suspicion.

"Mother wants you to be well-fed..." Other Coraline 2 patted her own overfed stomach. "Before you little _ceremony."_

"Tell your mother to go consummate herself." Coraline hissed at her, turning her back and folding her arms defiantly.

Other Coraline 2 scoffed and lifted the platter's cover, letting out a dim glow. Coraline turned back and saw that on the platter was a mouth-watering assortment of desserts. Strawberries, chocolate, ice cream, etc. Coraline put her hand to her stomach and felt the latter growl loudly again. Other Coraline 2 skewered a large red strawberry with her pinkie finger and ate it whole. "Hmmm...so good." Red juice escaped the corner of Other Coraline 2's mouth as she munched selfishly on the fruit.

"Uh, can I...?"

"Of course." _Clang! _She dropped the platter hard in front of her, scattering some of the food slightly. "Enjoy."

Coraline kneeled down and reached her hand out through the bars to take a red juicy apple off the platter. "Thank you." She took the apple back and bit a large chunk from it.

Other Coraline 2 walked other to Wybie's cell and addressed him with a sickly sweet tone, "Hello, Wybourne. How are we today?" Wybie did not get a chance to say anything before Other Coraline 2 continued abruptly, "That's great, because now it's time to take you out of that horrid little cage of yours."

"You mean, you're gonna let him go?" Coraline asked her hopefully.

"No." Other Coraline 2 rattled the bars of Wybie's cell and yet the boy sitting inside did not move. "My Mother says now that we have you, we can now do whatever we want to this kid. And you know what I think I'm gonna do with him...?"

"What?"

Other Coraline 2 rubbed her large soft and round stomach and purred, "I'm gonna take the little weasel and turn him into a delicacy. I was thinking..." She tapped her bottom lip with her index finger in thought. "Insect soup a la Lovat!"

Coraline loudly gasped mortified, while Wybie just sat there in his cell with a blank expression and said dully and sarcastically, "Oh, this is a shock. I hang around you, Coraline Jones and soon enough I'm captured by an evil witch whose bastard daughter wants to turn me into soup. Because it's not like I couldn't be like one of the other kids in Ashland, where as the worst thing that could happen to me is getting into an argument with my grandmother. No, instead I end up being chopped up and served as soup to a bunch of--"

While Wybie gloomily rambled, Other Coraline 2 crossed her arms and looked back over to Coraline, saying in an irate tone, "He's been like this for a while now. It gets really annoying." She grabbed the bars of Wybie's cell and the two began to glow a bright green.

Soon their bodies and the entire cell itself disintegrated into glowing particles that closely resembled fireflies. The large swarm of green glowing 'fireflies' flew around the room until it passed out through the front stone wall.

The glow died down, leaving the prison in darkness once again. Coraline stared at the now bare dark stone wall crestfallen and disappointed. She had just found her friend and just like that he was gone once again. Although, judging by how ungrateful the boy sounded despite the girl's efforts, Coraline wondered whether she should bother continuing to put her life on the line to rescue him or not. No, she could not do that. She promised Mrs. Lovat that she would return to the real world with Wybie in tow and she could not break it.

But at the moment, Coraline had a bigger problem. Other Coraline 3 was still standing there in the prison, holding the same brown bag over her shoulder. Neither said anything.

Other Coraline 3 trekked over to an open space in the prison where a crudely designed stone table ascended from the floor. She set the brown bag on top of the table, opened it up and began silently rummaging through it.

"What are you doing?"

Other Coraline 3 looked over her shoulder and replied, "My Mother has instructed me to look through your belongings." She took a couple of rubber gloves out of her pockets and fitted them tightly over her hands.

"What, you mean you're going through my bag?!"

"Do not worry; I am not taking anything." Other Coraline 3 pushed the brown bag to one side and as she took each item out, perfectly aligned each one along the table surface. "I just seemed to do some close inspection. Now let us see here..."

Coraline stood there behind the bars and held onto the cell bars, watching her double look through her bag. Surely it could not have been any harm, right?

"One flashlight; perfectly understandable..." Other Coraline 3 held up the flashlight and set it down on the table. She next took out the short rope with the metal hook attached and put it down neatly next to the flashlight. "A rope and metal hook; most useful when one is dealing needs to climb upward and reach a required destination. Ah, now I remember this item..."

Other Coraline 3 turned around to the genuine article and held up Coraline's closed Swiss Army Knife in her thin bony fingers. _Flick. _The long sharp knife shot out from inside the tool. It was still covered in dried black blood and sand.

"You stabbed me." She reminded her.

"Sue me." Coraline retorted.

Saying nothing and returning back to the table, Other Coraline 3 pushed the knife back into the tool and set it down next to the other items. "Now what else do we have here? Let us take a look see...lint, some bubble gum and…now what in the world is this?" She took the two new items out of the brown bag and turned to Coraline once more. "How did you come into the possession on this, Coraline?"

"I took it from my parent's room before I came here. It's a family heirloom."

Other Coraline 3 handled it with care and spoke softly as she did, "A 1917 Imperial German Navy Luger P08 pistol. I can only presume now that you are of German descent." She also cast a glance at the small brass tin full of bullets and shook the contents gently.

Coraline paused for a second and continued, shrugging her shoulders, "From my Mother's side, yeah."

"And I also suppose that this belonged to a family member whom fought in the First World War?"

Coraline sat back down with crossed legs in front of the bars and still kept her eyes on her counterpart and the gun in her hand. "Yes, it was my great-great-grandfather's and then my great-grandfather's. They both in the Navy during the entire war period. My great-great-grandfather died in the Battle of Jutland but my great-grandfather survived the war."

"Really now?" Other Coraline 3 walked over to Coraline's cell and sat down in front of her patiently, still handling the gun and brass tin carefully. "Tell me more."

"Okay..." Coraline sounded confused as to why this duplicate wanted to know of her heritage. Curiosity, maybe? But she found it best just to tell Other Coraline 3 everything she wanted to know. After all, she was the one holding the gun and its bullets. Picking up and eating a bare bar of chocolate, Coraline proceeded to explain, "After the war and throughout the Weimar Republic era, my great-grandfather was a Freikorp and was actually one of those involved in crushing the Communist threat in the country. But later on my great-grandfather left the Freikorps and changed his allegiance to a -- _different -- _group...if you know what I mean."

Other Coraline 3 already knew what Coraline was going to say. "Your great-grandfather joined the Nazi Party."

"He was a Stormtrooper...puh; they were some of the worst Nazis of them all." Coraline shifted around 180 degrees and tilted her head backward, whilst occasionally reaching her hand back and grabbing clusters of food to eat. "He raised my grandfather throughout the whole 12 years they were in charge and World War II but he wasn't into Nazism. All he wanted to do was be an artist. When Nazi Germany fell in 1945 and the Berlin Wall was built, my Grandfather lived in the Democratic West side, making a living by becoming a commissioned artist. Years later, her married and soon after that my uncles, mother and my aunt were born in West Berlin."

"If your mother was born in Germany, tell me, how did she end up in the United States?"

"Let's see, hmm..." Coraline had to think about it for a moment to remember. She took a spoon full of mint chocolate ice cream and ate it quickly. "Well, my mother grew up in West Berlin for the first six years of her life. Then grandpa decided to move the family to the States in search of expanding his career there. My Mom grew up, met my Dad, blah blah blah blah, then me." Coraline finished, rushing the end of the story a bit. She turned back around and started shovelling more and more food into her mouth. The girl came across a sugary slice of cake with thick pink icing and chomped into it greedily. "Mmmm, this is _so _good. You should try it."

"No, but thank you." Other Coraline 3 stood back up onto her feet and went back to the stone table, still eyeing the Luger curiously. "I shall make this valuable heirloom is kept safe, I promise you." She laid it and the brass tin delicately on the table next to the other items she salvaged from the brown bag. "An artefact like this must be kept in good conditions in order to preserve it further."

"You know...you don't seem as bad as those, uh, other Other Coraline." Coraline licked her fingers after finishing her slice of cake and then clicked her tongue. "Boy, I'm thirsty."

Other Coraline 3 snapped her fingers and some of the stone broke off the table and flew over to Coraline in her cell. It slowly moulded into the shape of a large goblet with a smooth surface. Coraline hesitantly took the goblet in her hands and looked inside to see that it was now filled with ice-cold cola.

"Thanks." Coraline put the goblet to her lips and slowly drank the contents, moaning in pleasure and licking her lips. "Diet. Nice."

"I knew you would like it." Other Coraline 3 spoke to her, still working on her inspection of the bag's contents. "And regarding that first remark, well...I, unlike most people find the topic of evil a matter of interpretation. Look at Adolf Hitler for example; mostly all those in the world today will look back and regard him as a monster. But on the other hand, back in the first half of the 20th century prior to the end of World War II, mostly everyone in Germany and Austria regarding him as a glorious saviour."

"Well, I guess that's a unique way of looking at it..." Coraline set her now half empty goblet down and picked up a huge hunk of taffy. She looked at it bored for a moment before she bit into it. "Say, can I ask you, uhh...what's it like to have no emotions?"

"I cannot really explain it for I have neither had these emotions for a comparison." Other Coraline 3 looked over her shoulder at the original briefly and then went back to her work. "So if you tried to tell me what emotions are like, then I would not be able to understand." At last, she shut the brown bag and fully looked back at Coraline. "I am finished now. My job is done."

"So you're leaving now?"

"I am afraid so. It is a pity; I was enjoying our conversation." Other Coraline 3 turned away from the stone table, leaving the brown and items taken out still on the surface. "My sister, Other Coraline 1 will come to check on you in just _two _hours." She walked up to Coraline's cell and instead of facing the genuine article; the girl curiously began inspecting the cell's bars. "You know, it is interesting..."

Coraline cocked her head confused. "What is?"

Other Coraline 3 slowly walked along the old iron bars and tapped each one with her knuckles as she did, making them give off a dinging noise. _Ding. Ding. Ding._ "Some say that in days of old, many prison cells were equipped with at least one false bar just in case of emergencies. I doubt this is one of those cells but who knows...?" _Knock. _Upon reaching the last bar of the cell, Other Coraline 3 tapped it like the others yet it did not give off the same dinging sound as the others. It almost sounded wooden of plastic. "Why, they say that some earlier chains easily gave way to the right amount of force."

Coraline looked down at the chain attached around her leg. _'No...it couldn't possibly...'_

"Well, I must be off. Until our next meeting, Coraline and I promise you that it will not be long from now." Other Coraline 3 reached the exiting wall of the prison and decided to give a few more words of advice to her. "Oh and by the way, I have seen that you have finished your food."

Coraline arched her eyebrow and licked the last bit of chocolate from the surface of the platter. "So...?" She patted her now satisfied stomach and rested against the bars.

"I will just that one small square piece of chocolate contains 450 calories." Other Coraline 3 took out a green glowing crystal attached to a tether and scratched a large circle shape against the stone wall.

Coraline's pupils and mouth shrunk to near microscopic size. She opened up her jacket and looked down at her stomach at the sound of a low grumbling noise. Her stomach was starting to bulge out more than usual and it was becoming much rounder. "H-h-h-hey, what's going on?!"

Other Coraline 3 said not a word and instead tapped the centre of her large circle shape with her green glowing crystal. A bright green light emerged from the circle and the duplicate walked through it, disappearing completely. Immediately afterwards, the glow and the circle shape disappeared also, leaving the prison in darkness once again.

Coraline grasped her soft round stomach and felt it expand wider and wider until it finally stopped, leaving the child with a noticeably large belly. Coraline was left speechless and horrified. Coraline could have gotten to this point on her own by stuffing herself with junk food for three months. The food had obviously been tampered with by the Beldam to make the girl fat and fast for her appointment with the butcher knife and potion.

How was she going to squeeze that kind stomach into her school uniform?

Our blue haired heroine looked over at the bar her duplicate and tapped specifically before she left. Coraline tapped it and the bar next to it first. _Ding. Knock. _It must have been a fake, like from those cells Other Coraline 3 talked about. She was...helping her?

But there was no time to debate Other Coraline 3's intentions. She had to escape the prison somehow. Looking down at the stone goblet full of diet cola, Coraline knelt down and picked it up. After handling it slightly, she found that it would be heavy and hard enough to break the false bar. Something else Other Coraline 3 had given her...

"Maybe if I...no, I couldn't..." Even if she did bust the false bar of the cell, Coraline would not have been able to escape the prison. She needed one of those green glowing crystals to open up the exit stone wall.

Then it hit her.

If Other Coraline 3 had one of those crystals, who was to say that the other 'Coralines' had them as well? And Other Coraline 1 was coming in exactly _two _hours, according to Other Coraline 3. And the counterpart did put some emphasis on the 'two'.

Coraline looked down at her watch and checked the time. It was now the early hours of Tuesday for her world, around 2:10 AM. In two hours it would be 4:10 AM and that was when Other Coraline 1 came to check on her.

Looking down at the never-ending goblet full of diet cola in her hand, Coraline sat back down and put it to her lips to drink. As she did, Coraline closed her eyes and began to calculate her plan.

* * *

**(A/N) And I shall leave the story off there for the time being. I would have to say that my favourite aspect of this chapter was the part where I explored into Coraline's German heritage. I really got the idea for it once I learnt that Dakota Fanning (whom you all know is the one who voiced Coraline in the movie) is of half German descent. Anyway, the next chapter shall focus more around the Beldam and the Other Coraline. Until next time, please do Read and Review.**


	8. Chapter Seven

**(A/N) Hello, everyone, first let me apologize for the long wait for this update. It is just that I have many other projects that I am working on right now, including a book I hope to get published. However, I do plan to get this story worked on now as often as I can. Also, I'm sorry that this chapter is not particularly that long, but it is not really meant to be that long, after all.**

**Anyway, please read on and do enjoy.**

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Seven**

In the other world's kitchen, the Beldam stood over the boiling cauldron and after giving it a good inhale, she placed the lid back on top. On the stub where her original right hand had once been was now a metal hand with rustic opposable fingers that rigidly closed in and out. It was good for grasping and holding onto her objects. Though it was not exactly the absolute perfect substitute for her old hand, it was good enough for the time being. She turned around and beckoned her fourth child in a sweet tone, "Caroline, mommy needs some spices!"

Caroline skipped across the kitchen floor with dozens of spice bottles carried in her arms. She came to an immediate halt and held them up to her. "Here you go, Mother." Beldam picked a few red and blue ones in her one hand, lifted up the cauldron lid and began shaking their contents into the bubbling brew.

Beldam dropped the spice bottles back into the girl's arms and kissed her on the cheek. "What would I ever do without you, pumpkin?" Caroline blushed red bashfully and allowed her mother to nuzzle her face against hers. Secretly, Caroline was beaming in joy at the envy her sisters had to be feeling right now if they were watching.

In fact, they actually were watching right now from a distance. Other Coralines 2, 3 and 1 were in that order from bottom to top spying from outside through a window.

Other Coraline 2 was currently in a push up position as Other Coraline 3 hoisted the crippled Other Coraline 1 up to the edge of the window.

"Do you…see anything…?" The fat girl grunted, greatly struggling to hold her position due to a great lack of past physical activity. "Oooooooooh…I can't hold on for much longer. I think my spine is gonna break in half!"

Other Coraline 1 hissed back quietly, "Just wait one more moment, tubby!" She looked into the window and frowned at seeing their mother praise and coddle their sister, Caroline. "Ooh, that little suck up! Trying to get all cuddled up with mother, can you believe that?!"

"I warned you that this would happen from the very beginning, did I not?" Other Coraline 3 asked her sisters dryly and rhetorically.

"Zip it, you!" Other Coraline 2 huffed tiredly.

The crippled duplicate scowled once again after taking another look through the window. "Oh! OH!! Now mother's hugging her kissing the little rat on the cheek! You should look at the smirk on that little brat's face!"

"That bi--" Other Coraline 2 did not get the chance to finish as she finally buckled under the weight of her sisters and the three tumbled onto the grassy ground. Crash!

"Owww!" Other Coraline 1 put her hand on her already aching back and rubbed it. "Oh, well now this is just _perfect _for my back!" Other Coraline 2 actually managed to push herself up and as always Other Coraline 3 said nothing with her usual blank face.

Other Coraline 1 got onto her knees and groaned, "Damn it, Coraline! You can't even hold one push up! I'd _love _to see you in the Olympi--" She stopped in mid-sentence when she looked up and saw a familiar pair of legs in front of her. The Coraline duplicate rose her head higher and saw none other than her mother there before them.

"M-m-mother!" Other Coraline 1 said as the three Coraline got off the ground and stood up straight for their mother. "Hello there. How are you tonight? Feeling well, we all trust."

"Coraline…" The Beldam said, looking over at Other Coraline 1. "Mommy needs to have a little chat with you if that's okay."

"Of course, mother."

Other Coraline 1 followed after her mother obediently inside, leaving her other two sisters behind. The Beldam took the child into the house from the back and into the kitchen. Other Coralines 2 and 3 just looked at each other.

"What do you think mother wants with Coraline?" Other Coraline 2 asked her sister's opinion, though she really did not care deep down

Other Coraline 3 just blinked and stated with a dull yawn, "Whatever it is, it cannot possibly be good." With that she turned around and walked off into the night, leaving Other Coraline 2 alone and puzzled.

"I think I better go check on Wybie…" Other Coraline 2 decided, walking off in the direction to the house's entrance to the cellar.

* * *

Down below inside the cellar, Other Coraline 2 stomped down the creaky steps made of inferior wood. This was where the Other Miss Spink and Other Miss Forcible used to reside before Coraline's previous visit to this world. Now it was just used for storage and for Other Coraline 2 to make her own special cooking.

A large cauldron was installed into the ground like some sort of swimming pool where a glowing yellow liquid was being boiled to perfection. And up above…

Wybourne Lovat was suspended helplessly from the ceiling via a thick rope, his body being constricted by the same material. His curly hair was now a mess and he had the look of "big, pathetic loser" written all over his face.

"Well, well, how are we doing, Wybourne?" Other Coraline 2 waddled over to a long wooden table where a long set of sharp knives, forks and other cooking and eating utensils. She picked up one of the large curved knives and handled it a bit.

Wybie let out a tired sigh, saying, "Oh, fine. I just learnt how life is a never-ending whirlpool of pain and suffering, but hey, no big."

"God, will you lighten up?!" Other Coraline 2 picked up some leek and took it over the large cauldron to chop the pieces into the yellow contents. "Seriously, Lovat, you're bringing down the room! What, were you _born _a buzz kill or something?"

"_Meow." _

Other Coraline 2's eyes grew to the size of tennis balls and she turned around to see a familiar black feline sitting right there behind her, looking innocent and harmless.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!" In a moment of panic, Other Coraline 2 held up her knife and in a flash flung it at the cat. But without a doubt, Cat was faster and dodged the sharp object with no difficulty at all.

She ran to the table to gather up some more knives and forks and tossed them frantically at the animal every time in came into her view.

"Missed 'em! Missed 'em again!" Wybie commentated dully the sight taking place below him. "Nope! Nope, you almost had 'em that time!"

Missing what would have been a fatal stab of an oncoming fork, Cat ran up the staircase of the cellar and burst out through the poorly built door and up the beginning stone staircase.

"Hey! Get back, here!" Other Coraline 2 picked up the first large curved knife and ran up the wooden flight of stairs, only to trip on the first few steps. _Crash! _"Ow!"

* * *

Outside, Cat reached the top of the outside stone stairs and with a quick glance to check if anyone was watching ran off into the darkness. Unfortunately however, the feline only managed to get a few meters away from the stairs.

Cat let out a loud hiss as he felt a dark shadow engulf him completely. All he could see was darkness and as it he was hoisted up in what he could make up to be some sort of sack. He lashed his claws out in all directions in attempts to escape but it was to no avail.

Other Coraline 3 held the bag in which she had so easily ensnared the black cat up to her face and sighed heavily, "Cats…" she turned around and make her way back to the top of the stone staircase. "I suppose Coraline is currently looking for you."

* * *

Back inside the house, the Beldam guided her limping child into the glowing green living room -- the bug room and made her sit down in the armchair.

"What is it, mother?" Other Coraline 1 set her crutch down and looked up at her mother who stood over her.

"Hey, Coraline, here's the thing…" The Beldam put her hands together as she continued uneasily, "I'm gonna need to ask a favour from you. I mean, I can count on you of everyone in this hourse for that, right?"

"Oh, sure, definitely, I'll do whatever I can, mother."

The Beldam turned her back to Other Coraline 1, still uncertain of how to fully explain things. "Okay, that's great. You see, I've come across a little snag whilst creating the potion." She walked over to the fireplace, looking up at the picture of the slain demon. "You see, now that I've added a lock of Caroline's hair to the potion, what it needs now is something from one of her blood relatives."

Other Coraline 1 now appeared apprehensive. "I…see. Uh, please do go on."

"Specifically, what I need from one of you three girls is a small amount of…" Beldam tapped her bottom lip. _"Flesh…_and blood, willingly given."

The crippled girl felt her skin grow pale. Flesh and blood? _Her _flesh and blood?! But she said nothing and instead just listened.

"I don't need much, just, um…" She turned and walked back over to her daughter, taking her only hand in her last natural one "A limb -- like your hand, for example."

Stuttering pathetically, Other Coraline 1 gently withdrew her hand and tried to come up with a way on the spot to get out of this. "B-b-but, it doesn't h-have to b-be _me, _does it? C-c-couldn't Coraline do it, instead. S-s-she's so fat, you could get all you wanted from my hand from her pinkie."

Beldam took her Other Coraline 1's hand back with her own and began stroking the girl's face with the mechanical replacement. "I know, I know, but I've got a special deal just for you." She tapped the mechanical finger against Other Coraline 1's pointed nose.

"Special deal?"

"That's right." Beldam smiled creepily. "You remember when I first created you? I said I would do all I could to fix your…problem?" She motioned Other Coraline 1's eye patch and her missing limbs.

Other Coraline 1 nodded. "Yeah, you promised you would."

"Well…" The Beldam took something out from her dress pocket. It was a metal tablet with a smooth reflecting surface. "Look what I have for you, dear."

Other Coraline 1's jaw dropped at seeing the object. "I-I-Is that--?" It could not possibly have been what she had been waiting for all this time.

"That's right, baby." Beldam moved the tablet playfully in between her fingers as if toying with her daughter. "I've been working on it for quite some time now. So tell me, would it really matter if you sacrificed one of your limbs right now if this…" She held the tablet up again. "…will set everything straight?"

Other Coraline 1 now looked more intrigued instead of apprehensive this time. "Umm, w-well, I-I guess, I c-could maybe," she trailed off a bit, not sure what else to say.

Beldam kneeled down to her level and held the metal tablet right up to the crippled girl's face. "All you have to say is "yes", dear. And then you can finally walk without using _this..." _She picked up the crutch that was now set by the chair. "…stupid thing."

For Other Coraline 1, it did not take long at all for her to make up her mind. She put on a sly lowbrow look and said coolly, "Okay, I'll do it."

_Crack. _Other Coraline 1 was nearly blinded by the bright pink flash created by her mother snapping her fingers. The cauldron containing the potion appeared in between Other Coraline 1 and Beldam within an instant, the lid being removed to reveal the bubbling contents.

"Perfect. You're such a good girl, aren't you?" Beldam cooed as she whipped a long curved dagger out from her dress. "Hold out your hand."

Other Coraline 1 hesitated but did as she was told none the less. Beldam took the child's hand in her tight mechanical grip and held it over the cauldron and then asked her before continuing any further, "Just to be sure, before we go on…you are surrendering your hand under your own free will, right? This is your choice, right?" It would not work if the girl was not.

"Yes, mother. Absolutely." This was what she herself wanted.

The Beldam held the dagger close to her daughter's hand. "Good."

_**Vhirscht!! Splash!!**_

Other Coraline 1 opened her mouth in attempt to let out the longest agonising scream possible. Yet the Beldam quick hand covered the mangled child's mouth hard, muffling her scream as much as it could.

"Sssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" The Beldam consoled her daughter, trying her best to get her to stop screaming into her hand. "Come on! I know it hurts! Come on now, sssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

But after all, Other Coraline 1's hand had just been severed from her wrist in one stroke! Black blood and sand were forming frantically at the split blue sweater sleeve, making the child go into further hysterics. Floods upon floods of tears were pouring out from her current button eyes and down the sides of her face.

"Alright, just hold still!" Beldam then noticed the shining metal tablet still trapped within her long fingers.

After the Beldam removed her hand from Other Coraline 1's hand, the latter started crying pathetically out loud. Beldam quickly grasped the girl's nose and shoved the tablet into her daughter's mouth.

"_HUH?!" _Other Coraline 1 gargled, her mouth space filled by the considerably big metal tablet. _"Wha--?"_

"Swallow it, now!" Beldam ordered sharply.

Though still in horrific pain, Other Coraline 1 found the strength within herself and actually managed to swallow the large tablet down her throat.

Beldam now smiled and laughed warmly, "That's right, good girl. Now sit back and relax." Her daughter did as she was told and leaned back against the back rest of the chair. Tears were still pouring down her face and blood and sand were still shedding out from the cash uncontrollably. This time she had no hand at all to stop the outpour.

"Don't worry. The tablet's effects will take place in…" Beldam held out three fingers in some kind of countdown. "Three…two…one, _now!!" _

Other Coraline 1 instantly sat up straight, her face fixed to a complete blank. She began twitching and then fidgeting unstoppably. In moments, it looked as if she was having an epileptic fit. Her blood veins became visible on her face in a dark grey colour and some foam was pouring out from her mouth. Soon, smooth shining metal was pushing itself from the stubs where Other Coraline 1's hands were supposed to be.

All the while, the Beldam watched silently, putting her fingers together and smiling. Then she gave a grinned and finally she flashed a wicked toothy smirk.

Coraline was going to receive a nasty surprise when Other Coraline 1 came down for check-up time...

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**(A/N) Now whilst this chapter was not the most exciting, do not threat. The next chapter is where the action is and I shall work on it soon. So until then, please do Read and Review.**

**  
P.S. Again, please forgive the lateness of my update.  
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	9. Chapter Eight

**(A/N) Hello, everyone, welcome back to the next chapter. This one is not particularly long either (in fact, it's the shortest) but I am reaching the climax and therefore the ending of the story after all.  
**

**Anyway, please read on and do enjoy.**

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**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Eight**

Back in the dark prison beyond the window, Coraline was now waiting. She had knocked off the fake bar and was now ready to kick some ass. She was currently hiding in the darkness, waiting for Other Coraline 1 to arrive.

There was a flash of green light, which Coraline noticed from the corner of her eye.

'Show time.' Coraline picked up the false bar.

"AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!" She cried like a warlord and held the bar over her head. With closed eyes and without second though, Coraline slammed the bar down on what she believed to be Other Coraline 1. But then…

A hand grabbed the bar in a tight grip, making Coraline freeze in surprise. In fact, it was not a hand at all. It was a big silver claw!!

"What the--?" Coraline gaped.

It was indeed Other Coraline 1, but she looked far different from when Coraline last met her. Her hands had been replaced by two giant metal three digit claws and her leg by a metal one, eliminating any need for a crutch. She no longer wore an eye patch as the socket was no filed by a large metal button. In fact, the girl's veins were now throbbing grey. Other Coraline 1 looked like some kind of cyborg!

Coraline managed to mouth, "W-w…woah."

Other Coraline 1 stroked one of her metal claws through her blue hair, saying vainly, "Oh, it's me, alright. I've just had a bit of a makeover!" She pulled back her first, grinning, "Now open wide! I'm gonna medieval on your mouth!"

Coraline screamed and dodged her duplicate's punch, which smashed into the ground, leaving a large dent.

"Get back here!" She screamed, pulling her fist out from the ground. "I just wanna talk with you!"

"Not a chance!"

Other Coraline 1 began chasing the original article around the prison, swinging her fists in random directions, resulting in massive holes being formed in the walls.

"Just…" SMASH! "Hold…" CRASH! "STILL!!!" BASH!

Other Coraline 1 had now backed Coraline up against the stone wall. The latter had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

"Okay…let's just talk about this…" Coraline offered in vein.

Other Coraline smirked and cracked her knuckles. "I'm terribly sorry, Coraline. I mean, if it were up to me, I'd let you go, but…" She held up her claws. "The boys have a temper…" She pulled the right one back, "AND THEY'VE BEEN DRINKING ALL DAY!!!"

SMASH!!

Coraline ducked just in time for the claw to miss her. It shot right over her head and ploughed itself into the wall. The vibrations travelled up to a few large overhead stalactites. Crack. Crack.

"Oh, dear…" Other Coraline 1 groaned, completely away of what was about to happen.

CRASH! SMASH!

The duplicate fell to the ground, a massive bruise on one side of her face including a black eye and bloody nose.

Coraline breathed in and out slowly. With some hesitation, she pulled herself and her now large stomach up onto her feet. She tiptoed over to the now unconscious Other Coraline 1 and snatched the green crystal that was attached to the girl's neck.

She looked to her left and saw the table in which her brown bag and belongings were. She could not leave those behind…

* * *

Ten minutes later…

Coraline found herself sneaking out the backdoor of the monstrous house. She had been lucky to avoid crossing paths with the Beldam or any of the other duplicates.

"Okay, doing good…I'm out. Now I just need to find Wybie."  
But where could Wybie possibly be? Other Coraline 2 said she was going to turn him into soup! That was the only clue Coraline had.

Coraline slumped down against the side of the house to think. "Come on, Coraline, think. Were would she have taken him if she was gonna turn him into soup? It can't be the kitchen, I just passed through it…"

Whilst she trying to solve the puzzle mentally, Coraline looked down and frowned sadly at her now massive gut. It protruded out from her shirt, exposing her tub of fat and belly button. She bit her lip and patted it gently, making it give off a small ripple. How was she going to lose all this and restore her now ruined frame to its former glory?! The thought of having to diet and do exercise alone made her skin crawl.

Just then, Coraline's nose twitched slightly. She could smell something. Something that smelt good.

"Hey, what's that…that…" Coraline felt her lips moisten. "…delicious aroma?!" She stood up and ran around the house, finding the smell leading her to the front.

Coraline arrived at the top of the stairs that went down to the door that led into what used to be the Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's apartment.

"I wonder…"

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Below in the cellar…

"Don't worry, Wybourne, I'll promise this won't hurt…much." Other Coraline 2 laughed as she approached the lever, ready to drop the tied up Wybie and Cat into the bubbling cauldron.

"How did we get ourselves into this, Cat?" Wybie sighed to the Cat, unaware how he actually could talk back. "It's situations like these that just scream that my life is a big load of bull--"

Other Coraline 2 rolled her eyes and yelled up at him, "Oh, shut up! God, the sooner I cook you the better!" She turned to the lever, ready to drop the hunched boy when…

"Let…them…go."

Wybie and Cat looked forward and Other Coraline 2 looked behind to see none other than Coraline Jones herself standing there.

Other Coraline 2 smirked and then just started laughing and pointing at the large bulge on Coraline's front. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! What the hall happened to you, Coraline?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Coraline's cheeks turned crimson and she marched up to Other Coraline 2's face, hissing vehemently, "I said, let them go, NOW!"

"Or what?! What are you gonna do, Tubbyline! What are you gonna-?!"

Smack!

Other Coraline 2 recoiled in horror, clutching the side of her face which Coraline had just smacked. She was at first too horrified to say anything at all, but soon tears began running down the sides of her face. The fat brat started crying her eyes out and pushed Coraline aside to run up the stairs out of the cellar.

"MOOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYYY!!!! SHE HIT MEEEEEE!!!!! WAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!"

Coraline sighed tiredly and walked over to Wybie and Cat hanging overhead. "You guys okay?"

"Please, Coraline, just g-get me down from here." Wybie groaned desperately, hanging his head. "I just wanna go home and take a nice long shower!"

Cat looked down at Coraline and told her, edging his head over at the knives on the table. "Use one of the knives on the table, Coraline. They'll cut through these ropes easily."

Wybie's eyes widened and he looked at Cat, utterly stunned. "W-w-wait, you can talk?!!?!"

Cat sighed exasperatedly, "Yes, Wybourne, I can talk."

"FUCK, YOU CAN TALK?!?!??!?!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Coraline picked up the knife from the table and battled it in her hand.

* * *

Several minutes later…

The three heroes walked up the stairs quickly, with Coraline leading them. She told her two friends sternly as they reached the top of the stairs, "Okay, you guys, we just need to get back into the house and go through the door!"

"Well, that won't be too hard." Though Wybie still clearly had his doubts.

"Exactly." Coraline took the door handle and turned it. "It'll be a piece of ca-" She opened the door and immediately froze in place, as did Wybie and the Cat.

The Beldam stood there, glowering over the trio of friends domically. Hugging onto her side was Other Coraline 2, still teary-eyed and whose head the Bedlam was petting tenderly.

The witch put her hand on her hip and asked her sternly, "Having fun, Coraline?"

Coraline looked down defeated, "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother."

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**(A/N) Okay, the next chapter is the big climax where Coraline and co. must try to escape the Beldam and her daughter. So until then, please do Read and Review.**


	10. Chapter Nine

**(A/N) Okay, this is the last chapter before the epilogue. Here Coraline, Wybie and Cat make one last attempt to escape the Beldam and her daughters with some unexpected help.**

**Read on and enjoy.**

**Five is a crowd**

**Chapter Nine**

"You've been a very, very bad girl, Coraline Jones…"

The Beldam paced up and down the Bug Room in front of Coraline Jones and Wybie Lovat, whom were both were cuffed by the wrists and ankles to two long metal surgery tables. The bubbling cauldron was placed in front of Coraline's table. It was now time.

All four of the Other Coralines were there as well, ready for the ceremony that was about to begin. Other Coraline 1 still looked banged up from her last encounter with the genuine article and Other Coraline 2 was still rubbing the sore side of her face. Caroline was standing smugly in front, refreshed and wearing her black and white polka dotted dress. And as always, Other Coraline 3 stood there with a blank expression.

The black cat was confined in a cage on top of a pedestal which Other Coraline 3 stood next to.

Beldam took something out from her dress; a long curved shining carving knife with a skeleton handle. "I'm terribly sorry I have to do this, Coraline, I really am. But the fact of the matter is…" She turned back to Coraline sternly, holding the knife up. "…you're a spoiled selfish brat!"

"No one's perfect." Coraline said in her own defence, although she was still scared beyond belief. The Beldam took a hold of the lever next to Coraline's table and began pulling on it, tilting the far end of the table upward.

Beldam prodded her replacement hand into Coraline's large gut, making the girl wince slightly. "Hmm, I'm gonna need to plump you up some more." She looked over at Other Coraline 3, "Coraline, get the hose."

Other Coraline 3 nodded and walked out of the Bug Room and returned moments later a large black hose that she carried underneath her arm. She handed the nozzle end of the hose to her mother.

"Open your mouth, Coraline." Just as she thought, Coraline did no such thing, so the Beldam jammed the nozzle straight into the child's mouth. Force-feeding at work. The witch turned back to Other Coraline 3, "Good, now turn it on." The child nodded and left the room to turn the hose on.

Moments later, there was a low whirring sound and after the Beldam flicked a switch on the nozzle, Coraline then felt something pouring into her mouth. It tasted like diet coke but much sweeter.

She at first smiled in pleasure but this disappeared the moment she looked down at her stomach. It was starting to swell up in even more and the swelling was even reaching around to her backside and limbs as well. Coraline tried to spit the nozzle out from her mouth but the Beldam kept it firm in place.

Other Coraline 3 returned to the Bug Room and watched Coraline blowing up. Other Coralines 1 and 2 laughed maniacally and Caroline rubbed her palms together. It was only a matter of time before she would become…complete.

"Dude!!" Wybie gasped, horrified or rather just shocked at Coraline's continuously growing stomach.

"Relax, Coraline, it won't be that bad." The Beldam smiled sickeningly sweetly. "I'll come to visit you behind the mirror."

Meanwhile, Other Coraline 3 walked unnoticed to the cage in which Cat was imprisoned. The feline looked up curiously to see the girl putting her finger to her lip to tell him to not say a word. She put her hand to the cage handle and slowly turned it…

"I think that's enough." Beldam flicked the nozzle switch again, stopping any more of the contents pouring into the child's mouth. "You're nice and fat now, Coraline."

Coraline clenched her teeth, full knowing what was about to happen. She was going to die. She was never going to see her parents or friends ever again…

"Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

**"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**

Beldam turned her head to see Caroline running about and screaming hysterically as she tried to throw Cat off her head. Ignoring how the feline could have gotten out of its cage, she scowled and stormed over to dispose of it.

"Get off of her!!" Beldam slashed her knife at the cat, narrowly avoiding it and her daughter's head. "You filthy vermin!"

"S-stop! Stop, you're gonna hurt me!" Caroline dodged the knife's swings, allowing Cat to remain unharmed.

"Caroline, just hold still!" In frustration, the Beldam continued to swing her knife. She looked at Other Coralines 1 and 2. "Coraline, Coraline, help me out here! Don't just stand there!"

As the two Other Coralines went to assist their mother, Other Coraline 3 just whistled and strolled other to the tables where Coraline and Wybie were cuffed down to.

"If I were you two…" She said, kneeling down to pull on a levers underneath the table. "I would start running."

_Click._

The cuffs which had trapped Coraline and Wybie opened and the two got up from the table, Coraline with some difficulty because of her now engorged form. Coraline looked at her duplicate and asked her whilst eyeing the struggling Beldam and Other Coralines, "What are you doing?! Why are you--?!"

Other Coraline 3 put her hand on Coraline's shoulder to stop her. "I might not have emotions, Coraline…but I know what is right and what is wrong." As she finished that sentence, Coraline could have sworn Other Coraline 3 was smiling. "Now you best get going."

Coraline smiled back, "Thanks. I owe you one." She turned back to Wybie and took his hand. "Come on, Wybie. Let's get out of here." She looked down and picked up the hose nozzle and pulled it along with her.

The girl dragged the hunchbacked boy and her heavy self over to the door, the latter of whom asked, looking back over his shoulder, "What about Cat?!"

"He'll be fine! Trust me!"

Meanwhile, Beldam starred behind her and gasped in horror. The metal surgery table was empty and Other Coraline 3 was toppled over on the floorboard, holding onto her knee. She gave her mother a mere shrug.

Before the witch could say anything, Other Coraline 2 screamed, pointing in another direction, "Mother, they're escaping!!"

"WHAT?!?!"

Coraline and Wybie got down by the door and the latter opened it up. They turned their heads around to see the Beldam charging and screaming at them, holding the knife over her head.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU DIRTY BRA--"

Coraline frowned and turned on the nozzle, making it spew out the same black water substance like before at high-power. When she was close enough, Coraline shoved the nozzle straight into the Beldam's mouth.

"Oh, almost forgot…" POW! Coraline socked the Beldam square in the nose. "That's from Wybie's Grandma!"

The Beldam backed off a few steps, covering her punched nose and was about to remove the nozzle from her mouth when she slipped on a puddle of liquid on the floor. She fell down on the wooden floorboard with a thunderous CRASH!!

Coraline and Wybie laughed at the sight of the Beldam floundering about on the floor like a fish washed up on the beach. But this laughter was short lived when they saw Cat running up to them, being tailed by the furious Other Coralines 1 and 2 and Caroline.

"Stop them!" Other Coraline 1 bellowed, running ahead with the aid of her metallic leg.

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Coraline, Wybie and Cat crawled through the door quickly and scrammed down the tunnel. However, Coraline forgot the close the door.

Other Coraline 1 and Caroline leaped through the door together, landing through the entrance. Our heroes continued to push their way through the tunnel, occasionally looking back at their adversaries who were trying to crawl over each other to get through tunnel.

"I'm going first!" Caroline shouted, shoving her sister

"Get out of my way!" Other Coraline 1 spat, shoving her back.

Other Coraline 2 shouted from inside the Bug Room, "Make way! I'm coming in!"

"CORALINE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Other Coraline 1 and Caroline felt themselves shoved against the sides of the tunnel as Other Coraline 2 pushed jammed herself into the entrance. That did it. None of them could get through at all.

Coraline started laughing at the pathetic sight. "So long, you pathetic knock-offs!"

"Come on, Jonsey!" Wybie yelled. "We're almost at the other end!"

Just then, something happened. The tunnel began moving…as if both sides were closing in! The duplicate Coralines laughed as the closing tunnel drew them closer to their prey.

Wybie reached the other door and crashed through it first, followed by Cat and then Coraline.

Not paying any attention to her surroundings, Coraline got up and took a hold of the door. Looking at the screaming Coraline duplicates one last time, she grinned and waved, "Bye, freaks, I'll see you in Hell!"

SLAM! Coraline slammed the door hard against the duplicates' faces.

_"OWW!!"_

_"MY FACE!!"_

_"MY NOOOSE!!"_

_

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Coraline kept the door closed with one hand and searched her person in a panic, looking for the key. Once she found it, she shoved the key into the lock and turned it.

When she heard nothing else from beyond the door, Coraline let out a heavy sigh. She took her brown bag off her shoulder and rested her head against the door. It was over.

"Wybourne!"

"Gramma!"

Coraline turned over and saw Wybie running into the arms of his grandmother. She had only noticed then that they were now all back in the girl's apartment, safe from danger.

The blue haired girl smiled at the heart-warming family reunion and looked down to see her favourite black feline cuddling up to her enormous stomach. Coraline stroked Cat's head and allowed him to licked her now chubby digits.

"Good kitty."

They were home. All of them.

**(A/N) Okay, that ends this chapter on a good note. Coming up next is the epilogue, the official last chapter to the story where we find out what happens to our heroes…and our villains.**

**Read and Review if you wish.**


	11. Epilogue

**(A/N) Okay, this is the official last chapter; the epilogue. Here we find out what happens to all our heroes and our villains.**

**Read on and enjoy.**

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**Five is a crowd  
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**Epilogue**

As said, Mel and Charlie Jones returned home from New York on Saturday morning. Coraline was overjoyed to see her parents again and vice versa. However, Mr. and Mrs. Jones were much more…surprised then overjoyed when they saw Coraline now humungous form.

With days to spare, Coraline was able to come up with a good enough story to tell her parents to explain her weight again. She told them she had gone over to her apartment everyday with Sally Malkinson to play her video game, taking plenty of sugary treats from the local store. Wybie's sudden reappearance was explained as well. It was told that he got lost in the woods that night he disappeared and was found that day after Mel and Charlie left.

Mel was not pleased at all with her daughter's change in frame. Coraline's jaw dropped in horror when her mother told her was barred from playing video games indefinitely and that she was going to be put on a four month diet and exercise programme. All three of them were effective immediately.

You could of said it was bittersweet victory for our blue-haired heroine.

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"…48...49..._50!"_

Coraline Jones collapsed hard on the ground outside the Pink Palace, having now finished her fifty push-ups. She was wearing a hot pink jumpsuit and was sweating like a fat pig. She had lost a bit of weight since she was set on that diet and exercise programme one month ago, but not enough to satisfy her mother.

Mel was sitting down next to her daughter on a collapsible chair, holding a glass of lemonade complete with a straw and miniature umbrella.

"Hmmm…" Mel sipped some of her lemonade and puckered her lips. "I want fifty more."

Coraline let out loud moan, pressed her hands against the ground and shakingly pushed her gargantuan self up again. If she had learnt one thing from all this...it was that she utterly hated exercise.

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Back in the Other World…  
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"Food…food…"_

The Beldam was laying on the Bug Room floor flat on her stomach. Her figure had taken a great toll from the cola-like contents of the hose and now was a large mass unable to move. Her limps had retreated into her body and her dress had been stretched so much by her mass that it was on the verge of bursting open. It was a humiliating and pathetic sight.

Her face has turned even more pale and her hair askew. She lifted her head once again and groaned loudly, _"Fooood!"_

Other Coraline 3 walked into the Bug Room, holding a warm block pot by the handles. "There, there, Mother. I have brought you your lunch." She set the pot down in front of her mother's face and knelt down lifted the lid.

Beldam licked her ruby lips and shoved her head into the pot, gorging on the weird purple coloured food inside.

Other Coraline 3 petted her mother's head and hugged her, "Don't worry, mother. My sisters will be here soon to wash you up. I actually managed to pull them out of the door frame. They are going to use nice hot water you like so much."

"Good child…" Beldam muttered meekly, her face covered with the purple food. "I know I can trust you…" With that, the pathetic humiliated witch dropped her face into her lunch…if you could call it that.

"You honour me, mother, you really do." Unknown to the feeding Beldam, Other Coraline 3 for once grinned out from the corner of her mouth, showing how pearly white sharp teeth.

Other Coraline 3 turned away and gave a wink to you, the readers. It was clear now whom the brains of the family was.

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**The End**

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**(A/N) And that is it, the end of my full-length Coraline story. I must say I did indeed enjoy it, but now I shall focus on other works, mainly one-shots. So until next time, as always, please do Read and Review.**


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